Explore every episode of the podcast All About Capital Campaigns: Nonprofits, Fundraising, Major Gifts, Toolkit
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| Top-Down, Inside-Out: A Capital Campaign Strategy for Major Gifts | 03 Nov 2026 | 00:23:12 | |
A campaign can raise millions and still stall if the team approaches donors in the wrong order. Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explain how a top-down, inside-out strategy can build donor confidence and campaign momentum from the start. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy and Andrea break down a core principle of capital campaign fundraising: begin with the largest potential gifts and the people closest to your organization. They explain how these two priorities work together, why the order of solicitation matters, and how a clear campaign plan can help donors see a path to success. “Top-down” means following your gift range chart from the largest gift down. For a $10 million campaign, that might mean starting with a potential $2.5 million gift. When a mid-level donor is asked early, before the campaign has secured its lead gifts, even a generous $50,000 commitment can feel like a small contribution to a very large goal. Once several major gifts are in place, the same donor can see that the campaign is gaining traction and understand the role their gift can play. Amy and Andrea discuss why campaigns that begin with scattered solicitations may reach a few million dollars and then lose momentum. They share an example of a founder who expected to raise campaign gifts from the same friends who had supported the organization at its start. As the team developed a clear plan, it identified other potential lead donors: families whose lives had been touched by the organization’s services. “Inside-out” means beginning with people who already have a close connection to the organization. Board members, founders, volunteers, clients, patients, and others served may all belong in those first circles. Their gifts can vary in size. What matters is their commitment and connection to the mission. Amy and Andrea describe how to think about the people who are both major gift prospects and insiders, and why board members should make their commitments before they speak publicly about the campaign. The two strategies work together: pursue the largest gifts while building participation among the people closest to the organization. That gives campaign leaders a process they can explain and return to at every meeting. Instead of trying to reach the broader community too soon, the team can build confidence and momentum before widening the circle of solicitations. If your organization is planning a capital campaign or feels stuck partway through one, visit Capital Campaign Pro to learn how our team can help you understand the strategy and plan your next steps. Topics covered:
Follow @CapitalCampaignPro for more guidance on capital campaign planning and fundraising. #CapitalCampaign #Fundraising #Nonprofit | |||
| The Fundraising Metric Every Nonprofit Leader Should Know | 27 Oct 2026 | 00:15:09 | |
A simple question can reveal whether an organization is ready to plan for a major campaign: How much does it raise from philanthropy each year? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt discuss why nonprofit leaders need to know their organization’s annual fundraising numbers, where that information comes from, and how to build a steady habit of reviewing it. They explain how a clear picture of current fundraising can inform capital campaign planning and help leaders feel more prepared to talk with donors about significant gifts. You don’t need an elaborate dashboard or a sophisticated major gifts program to get started. You do need a reliable baseline: how much came in last year, which sources contributed, and whether this year’s fundraising is on track. Amy and Andrea suggest working with the people who manage your books or donor records, then setting a recurring monthly meeting to review the same measures consistently. Looking at the numbers month after month can feel uncomfortable, especially when a month or two goes poorly. But regular review helps leaders see longer-term trends, work through challenges together, and ask for help when needed. A capital campaign can bring structure, strategy, and training to major gift fundraising, but it cannot magically repair an ongoing operating deficit. Stronger awareness of your current fundraising gives your organization a more grounded starting point. Whether you’re an executive director, development director, board chair, or campaign volunteer, this episode offers a practical first step: know what your organization raises, how it raises it, and how the results are changing over time. Follow @CapitalCampaignPro for more conversations and practical guidance on capital campaign fundraising. Episode chapters
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| What Does a Successful Capital Campaign Really Look Like? | 20 Oct 2026 | 00:23:40 | |
Could reaching your capital campaign goal mean your organization is leaving an opportunity on the table? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, co-hosts Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explore what campaign success really means, and why it may be bigger and more flexible than one fundraising number. For many organizations, success sounds simple: set a goal, raise that amount, and celebrate. But what if your donors are ready to give more? What if project costs change, the building plan shifts, or new prospects emerge? Amy and Andrea make the case that a successful capital campaign raises all the money an organization can for its project or vision at that time. They explain how organizations develop a preliminary campaign goal, test it through a campaign planning study or feasibility study, and refine it based on what they learn from their largest potential donors. As a campaign moves forward, donor feedback, changing project costs, and new opportunities may all affect what is possible. In many campaigns, organizations end up raising more than they originally planned. Momentum can build as more donors become engaged and want to be part of the effort. The conversation also looks at what happens when a project changes during a campaign. A building plan may shift, a different property may become available, or the organization may discover a better way to carry out its mission. Staying in touch with donors helps keep them engaged as plans evolve and can create opportunities to raise more for the work the organization hopes to do. Amy and Andrea also address the difficult question of what to do when a campaign is unlikely to reach its original goal. They discuss options such as using other funding sources, adjusting the project’s scope, or giving the campaign more time. Extending the timeline can make sense when there are additional prospects to cultivate and solicit, but it requires a clear reason and a plan. Campaign success reaches beyond dollars raised. A well-planned campaign can strengthen board engagement, help staff become more effective at major gift fundraising, sharpen the organization’s message, and deepen donor relationships. Donors may make larger gifts than ever before, and thoughtful stewardship can help those increased gifts continue beyond the campaign. Whether your organization is setting a campaign goal, entering the quiet phase, deciding whether to keep fundraising after reaching goal, or reassessing a project, this conversation offers a more useful way to think about progress and possibility. Amy and Andrea explain how campaign strategy gives leaders room to refine their definition of success while staying focused on the mission and the project donors want to support. Subscribe to All About Capital Campaigns for more conversations about capital campaign planning, major gift fundraising, donor engagement, and nonprofit leadership. Follow @CapitalCampaignPro for more campaign guidance and resources. Episode topics:
#Fundraising #Nonprofit #Nonprofits | |||
| The Executive Director’s Role in a Capital Campaign: 4 Essential Responsibilities | 13 Oct 2026 | 00:19:47 | |
Your capital campaign needs an executive director who can steady the team, stand up to the board, and secure the resources to succeed. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Capital Campaign Pro co-founders Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt discuss four essential responsibilities for nonprofit CEOs and executive directors leading a capital campaign. Drawing on a recent conversation with nonprofit leaders, they explain how the person at the top sets the tone for campaign confidence, board engagement, staff morale, and the investment needed to raise more money than the organization has ever raised before. First, Amy and Andrea explore what it means to project confidence when the outcome still feels uncertain. Capital campaigns can bring sleepless nights, tough decisions, and anxiety for everyone involved. Leaders need a deep commitment to what the campaign will accomplish for their community, backed by preparation, donor conversations, a feasibility study, and access to experienced campaign counsel. That combination helps them communicate a clear sense of direction while doing the work required to make the campaign successful. Next, they address a responsibility that can be uncomfortable to discuss: protecting fundraising staff from destructive board behavior. When a board member publicly criticizes or embarrasses a development director, the executive director needs to address the behavior and create a better setting for legitimate concerns. Amy and Andrea also discuss the positive side of this role: recognizing staff contributions, encouraging the team, and making sure the people doing difficult campaign work feel appreciated. The conversation then turns to board communication and the influence that often operates outside formal meetings. The loudest person in the room may not be the person others listen to most. Executive directors need to know who holds influence, build relationships with those board members, and discuss important decisions before they reach the board agenda. Amy and Andrea consider how virtual board meetings have changed the informal conversations that once happened in parking lots, and why intentional outreach matters. Finally, they explain why the CEO must advocate for an adequate capital campaign budget. Campaign planning requires a realistic investment in staffing, expertise, and support over the life of the effort. They discuss including campaign expenses in the fundraising goal, planning ahead rather than revisiting every expenditure, and responding when board members assume existing staff can simply take on the campaign. One example brings that challenge into focus: a small organization hired its first development professional, then was surprised when that person recommended bringing in campaign counsel. Amy and Andrea explain why even capable fundraisers may need specialized support for a campaign they have never led before. Whether you are an executive director preparing for your first capital campaign, a development director seeking stronger leadership support, or a board chair helping your organization plan, this episode offers practical guidance for building a more confident, supported campaign team. Share this episode with your CEO, executive director, or board chair to start a conversation about the leadership your campaign needs. To see if your organization is truly ready for a capital campaign, download this free Readiness Assessment https://capitalcampaignpro.com/assess - This guide will help you evaluate six aspects of your organization, including the board and your case for support. #Fundraising #Nonprofit #Leadership CHAPTERS
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| How to Track Capital Campaign Progress and Show Your Board a Path to Goal | 06 Oct 2026 | 00:18:22 | |
What if your next campaign update was already there when you needed it, with your progress, major gift prospects, and path to goal in one place instead of scattered across reports and spreadsheets? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, co-founder Andrea Kihlstedt talks with Capital Campaign Pro’s Director of Engagement and Technology, Steven Shattuck, about a challenge familiar to development directors: tracking a capital campaign and explaining its progress in a way that builds confidence. A campaign total tells only part of the story. Your organization might have raised $3 million toward a $5 million goal, but board members will still want to know where the remaining $2 million will come from. Which prospects could make the lead gifts? Where are they in the solicitation process? What happens if an expected gift comes in smaller than planned, or does not come in at all? Answering those questions often means pulling information from a nonprofit CRM, updating a separate spreadsheet, and building yet another presentation for a meeting. Andrea shares the story of Alexandra O’Connor, a development director whose sophisticated spreadsheet helped campaign leaders see several possible paths to success. Steven explains how that idea became the Capital Campaign Pro Major Gift Dashboard, an online tool for tracking campaign goals, gift ranges, prospects, and progress. They discuss how a clear view of the numbers can help fundraising staff decide what to do next and help board members understand the plan behind the goal. You’ll hear why so many nonprofits turn to spreadsheets when they begin a capital campaign, even if they already have a CRM. Andrea and Steven also discuss the time spent maintaining those files, the risks of relying on a spreadsheet stored on one computer, and the value of giving campaign leaders a shared place to see current information. The dashboard works alongside an organization’s existing CRM; the conversation focuses on the select group of prospects and gifts that will determine the campaign’s outcome. The discussion goes beyond reporting. Andrea describes how development directors can use different gift scenarios to explore the consequences of a prospect’s decision and identify their next steps. Steven explains how a clearer view of the remaining gift ranges and prospects can make a difficult board conversation more productive. Instead of simply reporting what has been raised, a fundraiser can show who may help close the gap and how the team plans to move those relationships forward. They also cover access to the dashboard, its use across different types of campaigns, and where to see it in action. If you are preparing for a campaign committee meeting, managing major gift prospects, or trying to give your board a more useful progress update, this episode offers a practical way to think about the numbers and the decisions behind them. Explore the Major Gift Dashboard: https://capitalcampaignpro.com/dashboard Follow @CapitalCampaignPro for more guidance on capital campaign planning and fundraising. #NonprofitFundraising #Fundraising #Nonprofit Episode chapters:
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| Should Consultants Interview Your Donors? Rethinking the Capital Campaign Feasibility Study | 29 Sep 2026 | 00:24:46 | |
What if the most valuable part of a feasibility study is the donor conversation your consultant never has? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Capital Campaign Pro co-founders Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt challenge a longstanding assumption about capital campaign feasibility studies: that an outside consultant should conduct confidential interviews with your largest donors. Traditionally, a consultant meets with prospective donors, gathers their opinions about a proposed campaign, and returns with a report and recommended fundraising goal. Amy and Andrea explain why they began questioning that approach and what happened when they tried a different model. In a guided feasibility study, nonprofit leaders meet with donors themselves after receiving training and support from an experienced campaign advisor. The advisor helps them prepare for the conversations, interpret what they hear, and use the findings to shape a realistic campaign plan. The change raises understandable questions. Will donors speak candidly to an executive director or board leader? Can staff listen without trying to sell the project? Where will nonprofit leaders find time to meet with 30 potential campaign supporters? Amy and Andrea take each concern seriously and share what they have learned from years of guiding organizations through these conversations. They also discuss what a confidential interview can leave out of the process. If a donor raises a concern with a consultant, the organization may receive an anonymous summary without knowing whom to follow up with or how to repair the relationship. When leaders hear feedback directly, they can ask better questions, understand the context, and carry the conversation forward. That firsthand knowledge can help them assess the campaign goal and make more informed decisions before asking for gifts. For Amy and Andrea, these interviews do more than test whether a campaign is feasible. They invite major donors to help shape the plan while giving nonprofit leaders practice in having thoughtful, strategic conversations about money and mission. A leader who has listened to a donor’s hopes, questions, and concerns is also better prepared for a future solicitation. The relationship continues from a real conversation instead of beginning again after a consultant hands over a report. Andrea shares what donors told her about their preference for speaking directly with the organizations they support. Amy recounts an executive director’s experience of having unusually open conversations with donors after 15 years in the role. Together, they make the case for treating donors as partners in campaign planning and for using the feasibility study to build skills that will serve your team throughout the campaign and beyond. If your organization is considering a capital campaign, choosing a feasibility study model, or wondering how to engage major donors before making an ask, this conversation will help you think through who should be in the room and what your team could learn by being there. Episode chapters:
Learn more about guided feasibility studies and capital campaign planning at https://capitalcampaignpro.com/. Follow @CapitalCampaignPro for more practical campaign guidance. #Fundraising #Nonprofits | |||
| Why $2 Trillion in Charitable Funds Isn’t Reaching Nonprofits | 22 Sep 2026 | 00:33:45 | |
More than $2 trillion designated for charitable purposes is sitting in foundations and donor-advised funds. Why isn’t more of it reaching the communities that need it now? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein speaks with Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation and author of Control: Why Big Giving Falls Short. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience with major donors, foundations, and community leaders, Glen examines how donor control shapes modern philanthropy and prevents charitable resources from achieving their full potential. Glen once helped donors develop highly strategic approaches to philanthropy. Over time, he began questioning an assumption at the center of that work: that people who accumulated great wealth were inherently best equipped to decide how social problems should be solved. He explains how this donor-centered model can overlook the knowledge, priorities, and solutions already present within communities. Amy and Glen explore why private foundations often prioritize protecting and growing their portfolios. Board members may feel more comfortable discussing investments, perpetuity, and family legacy than examining the immediate needs of nonprofits. That preference can turn the preservation of the foundation into a higher priority than the charitable purpose the money was intended to serve. Glen also challenges the idea that foundation assets remain private money. Once donors place money in a charitable foundation and receive a significant tax benefit, he argues, they assume an obligation to act as public stewards of those resources. The central question shifts from what feels comfortable for the donor to what will benefit the public. For nonprofit leaders and fundraisers, this creates a difficult power dynamic. Asking a funder for what an organization truly needs can feel risky. Yet asking only for what the funder appears willing to provide reinforces chronic underfunding. Glen encourages organizations to communicate the real cost of their work, the urgency of community needs, and the consequences of leaving charitable assets invested rather than putting them to use. The conversation also examines community-led philanthropy, donor-advised funds, foundation payout rates, trust-based grantmaking, and the difference between spending out and spending down. Glen shares lessons from the Stupski Foundation, which expects to distribute approximately $650 million over ten years and conclude most of its grantmaking operations in 2027. Spending down does not have to mean closing a foundation. Glen describes how foundations can release a meaningful portion of their assets during periods of urgent need and then continue operating with a smaller endowment. Even a modest shift away from perpetuity could direct billions of additional dollars to nonprofits and communities. This episode offers nonprofit executives, development professionals, board members, major donors, and foundation leaders a candid look at who controls charitable money, whose expertise shapes funding decisions, and what could happen if philanthropy placed greater trust in the people closest to the challenges. In this episode:
Learn more about Control: Why Big Giving Falls Short: https://stupski.org/control/ Purchase the book from Wiley: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Control-p-9781394352425 | |||
| Capital Campaign Staffing: Who Should You Actually Hire? | 15 Sep 2026 | 00:15:56 | |
Preparing to hire a high-level fundraiser or campaign manager for your capital campaign? The person you actually need may have a very different job description. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt challenge a common assumption about capital campaign staffing and explain how nonprofits can expand their capacity without necessarily adding another senior development professional. The conversation begins with the story of Jersey Community Hospital, a small organization serving a community of approximately 25,000 people. When the organization first approached Capital Campaign Pro, it was considering a $2 million campaign. It ultimately raised more than $5 million while adding just one part-time staff member. That does not mean nonprofits should attempt a campaign without sufficient staff. Instead, Amy and Andrea argue that organizations should think carefully about which responsibilities require senior-level expertise and which can be handled by a capable administrative or development support professional. Capital campaigns require two distinct kinds of help. The first is campaign-specific expertise: strategy, planning, guidance, training, and support from someone who has worked through many campaigns. The second is execution on the ground, including scheduling donor meetings, entering data, preparing reports, managing follow-up, sending acknowledgments, and keeping countless campaign details organized. Many organizations assume they should hire a campaign manager or major gift officer to take over the most important donor relationships. But those relationships usually belong to people who are already part of the organization. The executive director, development director, board chair, founder, and other organizational leaders know the donors, understand the community, and have the credibility required to secure the campaign’s largest gifts. That matters because capital campaign fundraising is highly concentrated. Successful campaigns are often made or broken by approximately 20 leadership gifts. Securing those gifts is not a broad-based fundraising exercise. Each prospective donor requires an individual strategy involving identification, cultivation, engagement, solicitation, and follow-up. The right administrative support can free an organization’s existing leaders to spend more time with those donors. Other responsibilities, such as grant writing, event planning, or elements of the annual fund, may also be delegated, streamlined, or outsourced during the campaign. Amy and Andrea also address the anxiety many executive directors and development professionals feel about personally leading major gift conversations. Most nonprofit leaders have never raised money at the level their campaign will require. That is where an experienced capital campaign consultant can provide strategy, training, coaching, and the perspective gained from working through many different campaign situations. Listen to learn how to evaluate your existing team, identify the gaps that could interfere with campaign execution, and hire strategically so that your most experienced leaders can concentrate on the donor work that will determine whether your campaign succeeds. Need help determining whether your nonprofit is prepared to staff and launch a capital campaign? Schedule a free introductory call: https://capitalcampaignpro.com/start/ Find more episodes of All About Capital Campaigns: https://capitalcampaignpro.com/category/podcast/ Subscribe to @CapitalCampaignPro for practical capital campaign guidance, fundraising strategies, and major gift advice. #Fundraising #Nonprofit #MajorGifts #CapitalCampaign | |||
| Can You Run a Capital Campaign Without a Wealthy, Well-Connected Board? | 08 Sep 2026 | 00:21:51 | |
A board filled with wealthy, well-connected fundraisers may sound ideal, but it is not a requirement for a successful capital campaign. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt address a concern shared by many nonprofit leaders: Can an organization conduct a capital campaign when its board members care deeply about the mission but do not have access to wealthy networks and do not see themselves as fundraisers? The short answer is yes. Amy and Andrea explain why most nonprofit boards are not assembled primarily for their fundraising connections. Board members may be chosen for their professional knowledge, community perspective, lived experience, or connection to the people the organization serves. Expecting every member of a 12-, 15-, or 20-person board to bring substantial wealth and an extensive donor network is usually unrealistic. That does not leave the board without meaningful campaign responsibilities. Amy and Andrea distinguish between the role of the board as a governing body and the responsibilities of individual board members. Collectively, the board establishes the organization’s vision, approves its campaign plans, safeguards its financial health, and makes sure the campaign has an adequate budget, qualified staff, and outside expertise when needed. Individual board members have a different role. Each member should understand why the campaign matters, support its goals, make a personally meaningful campaign gift above their regular annual giving, and speak positively about the campaign in the community. The amount will differ from one person to another. What matters is that every board member makes a thoughtful commitment they are proud of. Amy and Andrea also caution against treating a capital campaign as a solution to serious financial instability. An organization operating at a deficit or struggling to maintain its annual fundraising may need to strengthen its financial foundation and donor relationships before launching a campaign. Capital campaigns require investments in staff, planning, training, and fundraising expertise. So who leads the fundraising when board members cannot open doors to the largest prospective donors? In many campaigns, that work is carried out through a broader volunteer structure that extends well beyond the board. Campaign chairs, steering committees, core leadership groups, donors, community leaders, and short-term volunteers can all help introduce prospects, offer advice, solicit gifts, and move the campaign forward. A major campaign can become an opportunity to engage people who care about the organization but do not want to serve on its board. Some of the organization’s most generous donors and influential supporters may prefer a focused campaign assignment, an advisory role, or a place on a campaign committee. Their participation can help the organization build philanthropic relationships that remain strong long after the campaign ends. Most important, organizations should not assume that all their largest gifts will come from strangers who are waiting somewhere outside their existing community. Campaign planning begins with the donors, families, volunteers, and supporters who are already involved and invested in the mission. Learn more about A Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising: https://capitalcampaignpro.com/books/board-members-guide-book/ | |||
| How a Rural Hospital Turned a $2 Million Capital Campaign Into $5.27 Million | 01 Sep 2026 | 00:19:11 | |
What happens when a small rural hospital foundation that typically raises $200,000 to $300,000 per year is asked to launch a $2 million capital campaign and ultimately raises more than $5 million? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Andrea Kihlstedt speaks with Charity Roth, Executive Director of the Jersey Community Hospital Foundation, about the remarkable campaign that transformed her organization’s fundraising capacity and brought an entire Illinois community together. When hospital leaders first asked Charity to raise $2 million toward a $20 million expansion project, the goal felt enormous. The foundation’s fundraising had centered primarily on its resale shop, special events, and smaller projects. Charity was the foundation’s only full-time employee, and she had never led a capital campaign. Yet the foundation went on to raise $5.27 million, more than twice its original campaign goal. Charity explains how a guided feasibility study changed the direction of the campaign. Through candid conversations with donors and community members, the foundation discovered that local support was far stronger than it had anticipated. The study did more than test the campaign goal. It gave Charity an opportunity to understand why residents valued their local hospital, what they wanted for its future, and how they hoped to participate. Those conversations gave the foundation the confidence to increase its goal from $2 million to $5 million. The campaign received an early boost from a $1 million lead gift made by the family of a beloved longtime physician. Near the end of the campaign, the same family stepped forward again with another gift and a matching challenge that helped carry the campaign across the finish line. Charity and Andrea also discuss how donor recognition can reflect the character of a community. One of the campaign’s most memorable gifts came from 19 members of a local farming family who pooled their contributions to secure a naming opportunity. Their gift showed that meaningful recognition does not have to be reserved for a community’s wealthiest residents. It can celebrate families, shared history, and collective generosity. This campaign was not without complications. The hospital experienced a CEO transition, the campaign temporarily lost momentum, and Charity initially approached the work as an “army of one.” She shares how part-time staff support, two committed volunteer co-chairs, board participation, and community business leaders helped make the larger campaign possible. For nonprofit leaders considering a capital campaign, Charity offers a simple but compelling lesson: dream beyond what your organization has raised in the past. A successful capital campaign is grounded in relationships, a willingness to listen, strong volunteer leadership, and honest conversations about what donors care about. Andrea closes with one of the episode’s most useful fundraising principles: find out what your donors want to accomplish, then encourage them to do it. When fundraisers understand a donor’s connection to the mission, they can invite that donor to give from a place of meaning rather than obligation. To ensure your campaign ends in a celebration, download our free Capital Campaign Step-by-Step Guide & Checklist. This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign, from start to finish! | |||
| How Much Should Your Board Give to a Capital Campaign? | 25 Aug 2026 | 00:21:10 | |
How much should your board give to a capital campaign? The answer is not a universal percentage, but there is a practical way to arrive at a goal your board understands and supports. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explain how nonprofit leaders can establish a realistic collective board giving goal, prepare board members for the conversation, and build early financial commitment from the people closest to the organization. Capital campaigns are built from the top down and the inside out. That makes the board of directors one of the first groups an organization should engage and solicit. Amy and Andrea explain why there is no standard answer. A board made up largely of people with significant giving capacity may account for a substantial portion of the campaign goal. A board that reflects the community an organization serves may contribute a smaller percentage while still demonstrating meaningful commitment. The right target depends on the composition, capacity, and culture of the board. Every board member should make a gift that is meaningful and significant for them, but those gifts will not be equal. A few may make very large commitments, several may give in the middle, and others may make gifts that represent a real stretch. Andrea introduces a helpful way to picture this distribution. While a campaign gift chart typically resembles a pyramid, board gifts often form a diamond: a few large gifts at the top, a few smaller gifts at the bottom, and most commitments clustered in the middle. By estimating a reasonable high and low range for each board member, a small group can calculate a defensible range for the board’s collective goal before bringing the question to the full board. Amy and Andrea also recommend speaking privately with influential board members and informally confirming likely leadership gifts before the full discussion. This gives the board evidence that the proposed goal is achievable and helps prevent one vocal skeptic from derailing the process. You will also learn a confidential index-card exercise that invites every board member to estimate their giving range without making a pledge. The cards are totaled and compared with the committee’s advance estimate. This turns an abstract number into something tangible and creates room to discuss pledges, gifts from assets, and stretching over time. These conversations can feel uncomfortable. Thoughtful preparation, confidentiality, and experienced guidance can make the process productive. The episode closes with a firm warning: entering a capital campaign with financial commitments from only a small fraction of the board is a serious problem. Full board participation, at personally meaningful levels, signals belief in the project and strengthens the case presented to other major donors. For more board engagement tips, be sure to download our free Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising - https://capitalcampaignpro.com/board-members-guide. It answers the questions board members most frequently ask, or wish they could ask. | |||
| Should You Hire a Capital Campaign Consultant? What Nonprofits Need to Know | 18 Aug 2026 | 00:23:38 | |
A capital campaign may be the largest fundraising effort your nonprofit ever undertakes, but is hiring a campaign consultant really worth the investment? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explain why experienced capital campaign counsel can make such a significant difference when the goals are high, donor relationships are at stake, and your staff and board are entering unfamiliar territory. Most nonprofits conduct a capital campaign only once every 15 or 20 years. Even seasoned development professionals may have participated in only one campaign or handled a small piece of the process. Campaign consultants develop a different level of expertise by guiding organization after organization through feasibility studies, campaign planning, quiet phases, major gift solicitations, public launches, and the inevitable challenges that arise along the way. Amy and Andrea discuss the difference between a consultant and an additional staff member. A consultant should not be hired simply to take campaign tasks off your team’s plate. Staff members and volunteers still bring the relationships, institutional knowledge, and day-to-day implementation a campaign requires. A strong consultant supplies the strategy, structure, training, sequencing, accountability, and judgment that keep everyone moving in the right direction. You’ll also hear why an outside consultant can often address sensitive issues and work across organizational levels more effectively than someone on staff. Consultants can speak with board members, executives, development professionals, campaign volunteers, and support staff without becoming caught in internal politics. Their experience also helps them recognize problems quickly, recommend the right next step, and prevent organizations from losing months or years to avoidable mistakes. The conversation also takes on a timely question: Can AI take the place of a capital campaign consultant? Amy and Andrea are enthusiastic users of AI, but they explain why a generated campaign plan cannot replace the judgment, relationships, accountability, and in-the-room guidance of an experienced advisor. AI may help your team generate ideas or complete tasks. It cannot read a campaign committee meeting, recognize when a donor strategy is going off course, or draw on firsthand experience from dozens of campaigns. Finally, Amy and Andrea share questions every nonprofit should ask before selecting a campaign consultant. How many campaigns has the person led from beginning to end? Were those campaigns successful? Can the consultant provide references from organizations they guided through the full process? Your capital campaign is too consequential to become someone else’s training ground. This episode will help nonprofit executives, development directors, board members, and campaign leaders decide whether they need outside counsel, understand what a consultant should contribute, and identify the experience that matters most. To see how many nonprofits hire a consultant to help with their capital campaign, as well as many other benchmarks with which you can compare your organization to, be sure to download our annual Capital Campaign Benchmark Report. | |||
| How a Small Nonprofit Raised 75% of an $8.5 Million Capital Campaign in 11 Months | 11 Aug 2026 | 00:28:17 | |
What can a nonprofit with just 650 active donors—and a median gift of only $100—teach us about raising millions through a capital campaign? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Andrea Kihlstedt speaks with Sister Marilyn Lacey, founder and executive director of Mercy Beyond Borders, about how her small international nonprofit raised more than 75% of its $8.5 million campaign goal in less than 11 months. Mercy Beyond Borders works in some of the world’s most challenging environments, including South Sudan, Haiti, Malawi, and refugee camps in Uganda and Kenya. Its mission is to help women and girls living in extreme poverty learn, connect, and lead. After 18 years of demonstrating that its model works, the organization launched an ambitious growth campaign to reach more girls and expand the long-term impact of its programs. The campaign began with an unexpected $1.5 million anonymous gift, followed by a remarkable $3 million pledge from a donor whose first contribution—made roughly 20 years earlier—was just $125. Sister Marilyn explains how that relationship developed gradually through conversations, storytelling, coffee, ball games, and genuine friendship. Her experience is a powerful reminder that today’s modest donor may become tomorrow’s transformational campaign supporter. But this episode is not simply a story about securing large gifts. It is a practical and inspiring conversation about donor relationships, capital campaign planning, feasibility studies, storytelling, and the mindset nonprofit leaders bring to fundraising. Sister Marilyn shares why she prefers to frame fundraising asks as invitations rather than requests for money. Instead of emphasizing organizational need or approaching supporters from a place of anxiety, she invites donors to participate in work that is hopeful, effective, and transformational. Her guiding advice is refreshingly simple: exude joy and confidence. As she puts it, no one wants to join a sinking ship. You’ll also hear how Mercy Beyond Borders uses a monthly email newsletter to deepen donor engagement without constantly asking for gifts. Each edition centers the story of one woman or girl and shows supporters what their generosity is accomplishing. Combined with personalized thank-you letters and thoughtful individual touches, this consistent stewardship has helped the organization achieve an impressive 59% donor-retention rate. Sister Marilyn also discusses the value of bringing structure to an ambitious campaign. Although she was confident in her ability to connect with donors, Capital Campaign Pro’s feasibility study process, campaign framework, templates, and weekly advising sessions helped Mercy Beyond Borders test its plans, engage prospective donors, and move forward with greater confidence. This episode offers valuable capital campaign guidance for small nonprofits, international organizations, founders, executive directors, development professionals, and anyone wondering whether their donor base is large or wealthy enough to support a major fundraising initiative. Mercy Beyond Borders proves that a relatively small organization can pursue a bold campaign goal when it has a compelling mission, loyal supporters, authentic leadership, strong donor stewardship, and the courage to invite people into something meaningful. To ensure your campaign ends in a celebration, download our free Capital Campaign Step-by-Step Guide & Checklist - https://capitalcampaignpro.com/checklist/ - This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign, from start to finish! | |||
| Capital vs. Capacity vs. Comprehensive Campaigns: What’s the Difference? | 04 Aug 2026 | 00:18:39 | |
Capital campaign terminology can be surprisingly confusing—and choosing the wrong campaign structure could make it harder for your board, donors, and staff to understand exactly what you are raising money for. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, hosts Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt untangle the differences among capital campaigns, capacity campaigns, combined campaigns, comprehensive campaigns, building campaigns, and endowment campaigns. They explain what these commonly used fundraising terms actually mean—and why the distinction matters when your nonprofit begins planning a transformational fundraising initiative. At its broadest, “capital campaign” is an umbrella term describing a specific kind of fundraising: a concentrated, top-heavy effort in which a significant portion of the campaign goal is raised through leadership gifts from a relatively small group of donors. Although capital campaigns are often associated with new buildings or major renovations, a campaign can fund much more than construction. It may also include new equipment, program expansion, additional staff, endowment funding, maintenance reserves, and other investments that increase an organization’s long-term capacity. Amy and Andrea explain how these components can be combined into a single campaign goal—and why “capacity campaign” may sometimes be the most accurate description, even if it is not the term most organizations use. The conversation then turns to one of the most important decisions nonprofit leaders must make: Should annual fundraising be counted as part of the campaign goal? Universities and other large institutions often conduct comprehensive campaigns that count nearly every dollar raised during a defined period. A multiyear university campaign might include annual giving, facilities, scholarships, faculty positions, programs, and endowment contributions in one enormous fundraising goal. For most community-based nonprofits, however, that approach may create more confusion than clarity. A food pantry, theater, human services organization, or environmental nonprofit typically has an ongoing annual fund that supports day-to-day operations. At the same time, it may be raising special campaign gifts for a major expansion or another one-time investment. Keeping those goals separate helps donors understand that the organization needs both their continued annual support and an additional, above-and-beyond campaign commitment. Amy offers a useful household analogy: If your home needs a new roof, you cannot stop buying groceries or paying the electric bill to fund it. The roof is a special capital expense, while groceries and utilities remain essential ongoing costs. Your nonprofit’s annual fund and campaign goal work much the same way. The hosts also address a common fear: Will a capital campaign cannibalize annual giving? Their experience suggests the opposite. During a well-run campaign, nonprofits communicate more frequently, strengthen donor relationships, generate excitement, and become more visible in their communities. As a result, annual giving can increase—even while many of the same donors make substantially larger campaign commitments. The essential distinction is not whether you discuss annual and campaign giving with the same donors. You can, should, and often must ask for both. The question is whether annual fundraising is included in the official campaign goal or tracked separately. This episode will help nonprofit executives, development directors, board members, and campaign leaders establish a shared vocabulary, select the right campaign structure, and communicate their funding needs clearly and confidently. For more free capital campaign resources, visit https://capitalcampaignpro.com/campaign-resources. | |||
| The Importance of Involving People in Your Campaign Process | 28 Jul 2026 | 00:15:34 | |
A capital campaign is too large, too complex, and too consequential for one staff member to carry alone. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explain why engaging more people in your campaign can lead to larger gifts, stronger decisions, and a far less lonely experience for the person responsible for fundraising. For many development directors, involving volunteers can feel like creating more work. Volunteers may miss meetings, arrive unprepared, dominate conversations, or fail to follow through. Faced with these possibilities, nonprofit leaders may decide it would be faster and easier to manage the campaign themselves. Amy and Andrea make the case that this instinct can limit a campaign’s success. Drawing on decades of capital campaign experience, Andrea shares that volunteers frequently account for 60% to 70% of the people who ultimately give to a campaign. When people participate in shaping a campaign, they become more connected to its purpose. That engagement often makes them more likely to contribute and more willing to make a significant gift. The solution is not to recruit one large campaign committee and ask every member to serve for several years. Instead, Amy and Andrea recommend creating a series of short-term, phase-specific committees, task forces, or working groups. One group might help develop the case for support during pre-campaign planning. Another might participate in the feasibility study. Later groups can assist with campaign planning, leadership gifts, the public kickoff, or a campaign celebration. Each assignment has a defined purpose and a limited duration. This structure makes it easier for busy people to say yes. A prospective volunteer may hesitate to accept a three-year commitment but gladly agree to attend three meetings or work on one defined project over two months. It also gives campaign leaders a natural way to identify their most effective volunteers. People who contribute useful ideas, complete assignments, and work well with others can be invited into future phases. Those who are unreliable or disruptive can be thanked and released when the short-term group concludes. Volunteer engagement offers another benefit that goes beyond fundraising. Staff members, no matter how experienced, see the organization and its campaign from a limited perspective. Volunteers can challenge assumptions, sharpen the case for support, share lessons from other campaigns, and contribute expertise the staff may not possess. For example, a volunteer with real estate experience may help an organization evaluate property or identify potential sites. Someone who has served on another campaign committee can explain how they approached donor conversations. A longtime community leader may know how different audiences will respond to the proposed project. These perspectives can produce a stronger campaign plan and a more compelling case. The central lesson is simple: campaign volunteers are not merely extra hands. They can become donors, advocates, problem-solvers, connectors, and future campaign leaders. With clear assignments and thoughtful committee structures, involving more people does not have to create chaos. It can distribute responsibility, strengthen the campaign, and help your organization raise more money. For more free capital campaign resources, visit https://capitalcampaignpro.com/campaign-resources. | |||
| How to Turn Donor Conversations Into Joyful Yeses | 20 Jul 2026 | 00:33:29 | |
What if asking for a major gift didn't feel uncomfortable at all? The best fundraising conversations aren't about persuading donors—they're about helping them discover how they want to make a difference. In this Best of All About Capital Campaigns summer re-run, Andrea Kihlstedt is joined by Capital Campaign Pro Senior Advisor Kent Stroman, author of Asking About Asking: Mastering the Art of Conversational Fundraising. Together, they explore a refreshingly different philosophy of major gift fundraising—one built on listening, curiosity, and authentic relationships rather than pressure or persuasion. Many nonprofit leaders dread solicitation meetings because they assume fundraising means convincing someone to give. Kent challenges that assumption by introducing the concept of conversational fundraising, where success isn't measured by simply securing a gift, but by helping donors make thoughtful, well-informed decisions that align with their passions and values. Throughout the conversation, Andrea and Kent explain why traditional fundraising techniques often create unnecessary resistance and how changing your approach can transform both the donor experience and your own confidence as a fundraiser. You'll learn why asking thoughtful questions is far more powerful than delivering polished presentations, why listening is the fundraiser's most valuable skill, and how genuine curiosity can uncover a donor's deepest motivations for giving. They also compare Kent's "10-Step Staircase" framework with Andrea's "Arc of the Ask," highlighting the shared principles behind both models: preparation, patience, intentional listening, and allowing donors to become active participants in the conversation. Along the way, they discuss why fundraisers should stop trying to overcome objections, how to ask questions that reveal a donor's purpose, and why rushing the solicitation process often undermines long-term relationships. Whether you're preparing for your first major gift conversation or looking to refine your solicitation skills before your next capital campaign, this episode offers practical techniques that can immediately improve the quality of your donor conversations. Perhaps most importantly, Andrea and Kent remind us that fundraising isn't about convincing people to give. It's about discovering what matters most to them—and helping them invest in something they genuinely care about. For more free capital campaign resources, visit https://capitalcampaignpro.com/campaign-resources. | |||
| Campaign Communications: More than Just Your Case for Support | 13 Jul 2026 | 00:18:38 | |
Every successful capital campaign depends on more than compelling fundraising asks. It depends on delivering the right message to the right people at the right time, and knowing when not to communicate publicly. In this Best Of summer episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt revisit one of our most practical conversations about capital campaign communications. Rather than thinking of communications as simply creating a case for support, they explain how successful campaigns require a thoughtful communications strategy from the earliest planning conversations through the final public celebration. Many nonprofit organizations spend months developing campaign goals, gift charts, and solicitation strategies, but far less time planning how they'll communicate throughout the campaign. That's a missed opportunity. Every phase of a capital campaign requires different audiences, different messages, and different communication tools. Amy and Andrea walk through the three major phases of campaign communications:
Along the way, they explain why campaign communication is really about three simple questions:
You'll also hear why regular campaign updates are essential for maintaining confidence, how to weave campaign messaging into your organization's existing newsletters and donor communications, and why strategic communication planning should begin long before your first solicitation. Whether you're preparing for a feasibility study, conducting major gift conversations during the quiet phase, or planning a public campaign launch, this episode provides a practical framework you can apply throughout your campaign. If you're looking for a more organized approach to campaign messaging, donor communications, board updates, and public engagement, this conversation offers a roadmap that will help your campaign build momentum from beginning to end. | |||
| Unlocking Major Gifts: The Art of Soliciting Top Donors | 07 Jul 2026 | 00:20:47 | |
In this episode, hosts Andrea Kihlstedt and Amy Eisenstein dive deep into the world of soliciting major gifts, particularly focusing on the top 10 to 20 donors. Discover the strategic complexity behind soliciting these substantial gifts and why they can make or break your campaign's success. The hosts emphasize the importance of meticulous planning and thorough research in the solicitation process. You'll gain insights into crafting a compelling plan, understanding your donor's motivations, and assembling the right cultivation team. Learn how to initiate exploratory conversations that lead to mutual understanding and trust-building with your potential donors. The hosts share real-life examples of how organizations navigated the solicitation process, including challenges and solutions they encountered along the way. You'll hear about the power of patience, negotiation, and adaptability in building relationships that result in successful major gifts. If you're ready to elevate your major gift solicitation game and secure significant contributions for your campaign, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in now and unlock the secrets to effectively soliciting top donors for your nonprofit's success. | |||
| The Capital Campaign Book Every Board Member Should Read | 30 Jun 2026 | 00:20:33 | |
Board members play a critical role in every successful capital campaign—but too often, they're expected to lead without ever being taught how campaigns actually work. What if there were a practical guide written specifically for them? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Andrea Kihlstedt interviews Amy Eisenstein and Sarah Plimpton about their new book, A Board Member's Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising: How to Raise Game-Changing Money for Your Nonprofit. Drawing on decades of experience advising hundreds of nonprofit organizations, Amy and Sarah explain why they wrote the book, what board members need to know before a campaign begins, and how nonprofit leaders can use the book as a practical tool to educate and engage their boards. Board members are often enthusiastic supporters of their organizations, yet many have little or no experience with capital campaigns. They may wonder why campaigns unfold the way they do, what they're expected to contribute, how fundraising actually works, or why campaign consultants and feasibility studies are necessary. Those unanswered questions can create uncertainty and anxiety at exactly the time organizations need confident, informed leadership. Amy and Sarah explain how the book was designed to meet board members wherever they are in their fundraising journey. Rather than assuming prior campaign experience, it answers the most common questions boards ask in clear, approachable language. The book covers campaign fundamentals, board leadership responsibilities, fundraising expectations, campaign strategy, feasibility studies, common misconceptions, and practical advice for navigating challenges that arise during a campaign. One of the most distinctive features of the book is the discussion questions included at the end of every chapter. Rather than simply providing information, the authors encourage executive directors, development directors, board chairs, and campaign leaders to use the book as the foundation for ongoing board education. Amy and Sarah discuss how organizations can incorporate the chapters into regular board meetings, committee discussions, and campaign planning over the course of many months. The conversation also offers practical advice for nonprofit leaders preparing for a future campaign. Rather than waiting until fundraising begins, Amy recommends introducing the book to board members a year or more before launching a campaign, creating shared understanding long before major decisions and solicitations take place. Whether you're a nonprofit CEO, executive director, development professional, campaign volunteer, board chair, or trustee preparing for a capital campaign, this episode offers valuable insight into one of the most overlooked ingredients of campaign success: an informed, confident, and engaged board. In this episode, you'll learn:
If you've ever wished your board better understood capital campaigns—or if you're a board member who wants greater confidence in your fundraising role—this episode introduces a resource designed specifically for you. To purchase A Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising, visit https://capitalcampaignpro.com/books/board-members-guide-book/ | |||
| When Your Campaign Plan Changes: Turning Roadblocks Into Opportunities | 23 Jun 2026 | 00:20:15 | |
Think your capital campaign plan is set in stone? Think again. The most successful campaigns aren't the ones that unfold exactly as planned—they're the ones that adapt when reality has other ideas. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explore one of the most important—and least discussed—truths about campaign fundraising: campaign plans change. Whether it's unexpected zoning challenges, rising construction costs, delayed approvals, shifting project scopes, lost funding sources, or entirely new opportunities that emerge along the way, nonprofit leaders must learn how to navigate uncertainty while keeping their campaigns moving forward. Most organizations begin a capital campaign with a carefully developed vision, a fundraising goal, and a project plan that has been tested through a feasibility study. Donors express enthusiasm. Leadership gains confidence. Momentum builds. But what happens when circumstances change after the campaign is already underway? Amy and Andrea share real-world examples from nonprofit organizations that encountered major obstacles in the middle of successful campaigns—and ultimately emerged stronger because of them. One organization faced an unexpected opportunity to purchase a neighboring property while already stretching to fund a major building project. Another struggled with escalating construction costs that threatened the viability of its entire campaign. In both cases, leadership teams discovered that the answer wasn't to retreat, panic, or hide the problem from donors. Instead, they invited donors into the conversation and treated them as true partners in solving the challenge. The discussion highlights a common mistake nonprofit leaders make when campaign plans encounter difficulties: circling the wagons and attempting to solve problems internally before communicating with supporters. While the instinct to protect donors from bad news is understandable, Amy and Andrea explain why transparency often leads to better outcomes. Donors who have already invested in a project want it to succeed. When organizations openly share challenges and seek advice, donors frequently contribute ideas, connections, resources, and solutions that leadership teams would never have discovered on their own. Listeners will also learn why feasibility studies are about much more than testing fundraising potential. They're actually designed to test a specific project plan and gather feedback before an organization commits to a final direction. That's why campaign plans should always be viewed as drafts rather than fixed blueprints. As circumstances evolve, leaders must remain willing to adjust their plans while staying focused on the mission and desired impact. Throughout the conversation, Amy and Andrea emphasize the importance of flexibility, creativity, and resilience. Sometimes the very obstacle that seems most threatening becomes the catalyst for a better solution. A construction cost crisis can lead to a more efficient project design. A property challenge can open the door to a more strategic opportunity. A setback can spark innovation that would never have emerged otherwise. If your campaign isn't unfolding exactly as planned, you're not alone. This episode will help you approach challenges with greater confidence, creativity, and optimism—and may inspire you to see opportunity where you once saw obstacles. To ensure your campaign ends in a celebration, download our free Capital Campaign Step-by-Step Guide & Checklist. This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign, from start to finish! | |||
| How a Small Development Team Raised $10 Million for a Youth Shelter Campaign | 16 Jun 2026 | 00:32:50 | |
What happens when a nonprofit thinks it's ready for a capital campaign—but discovers it still has critical groundwork to complete before moving forward? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein sits down with Jacqueline House, Vice President for Communications and Community Engagement at Safe Children Coalition, and Paula Peter, Capital Campaign Pro Campaign Advisor, to explore the remarkable story behind a campaign that grew from an initial $3 million goal to nearly $10 million raised for a new youth shelter serving vulnerable children across Florida's Suncoast region. Safe Children Coalition serves more than 10,000 children each year through foster care, adoption, prevention, and diversion programs. Faced with the need to replace an aging youth shelter originally built in 1959, the organization embarked on a capital campaign that would ultimately far exceed its original fundraising expectations. But the path to success wasn't straightforward. Jacqueline shares how her organization initially believed it was already in campaign mode when, in reality, important campaign planning and donor development work still needed to be completed. Rather than rushing ahead, the organization made the difficult decision to pause for six months and focus on strengthening the foundation necessary for long-term campaign success. Listeners will learn why strategic pauses are often a sign of campaign strength—not weakness—and how organizations can use these periods to clarify project plans, secure key assets, build internal alignment, strengthen campaign leadership, and prepare compelling answers to donor questions. The conversation also explores one of the most important shifts in modern capital campaign fundraising: the evolution of the feasibility study process. Jacqueline explains how conducting donor interviews herself, rather than relying on an outside consultant, helped her build meaningful relationships with prospective major donors, gain candid feedback, and increase both her confidence and effectiveness as a fundraiser. Paula offers a fascinating perspective from her decades-long career in campaign consulting. Having conducted traditional confidential feasibility study interviews since the early 1990s, she candidly discusses why she initially resisted the guided feasibility study model and what ultimately convinced her that empowering nonprofit leaders to conduct their own donor conversations produces stronger fundraising outcomes and more confident campaign leaders. The episode also provides valuable insights for nonprofit executives, development directors, and campaign volunteers working in organizations with limited fundraising infrastructure. Jacqueline describes how she navigated a campaign with a relatively small development operation, a board that was supportive but inexperienced in fundraising, and a leadership team that was simultaneously managing a major construction project. Whether you're planning your first capital campaign, evaluating campaign readiness, considering a feasibility study, or looking for strategies to strengthen donor relationships, this episode offers practical lessons and real-world insights from a nonprofit that transformed its fundraising capacity while successfully completing a major campaign. If you're preparing for a capital campaign or looking to improve your campaign strategy, this conversation offers valuable guidance from leaders who successfully navigated the challenges and opportunities of a transformational fundraising effort. To ensure your campaign ends in a celebration, download our free Capital Campaign Step-by-Step Guide & Checklist. This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign, from start to finish! | |||
| The Natural Ebbs and Flows of a Capital Campaign (And How to Use Them to Your Advantage) | 09 Jun 2026 | 00:17:56 | |
What if the “slow” periods in your capital campaign are actually some of the most productive opportunities for building donor relationships and campaign success? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, hosts Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explore the natural ebbs and flows that every capital campaign experiences—and why nonprofit leaders should stop viewing slower periods as setbacks. Whether you're in the quiet phase of a campaign, preparing for a major fundraising push, or wondering how seasonal changes affect donor engagement, this conversation offers practical insights that can help you manage campaign momentum more effectively. Many nonprofit leaders assume a capital campaign should operate at full speed all the time. But campaigns are multi-year endeavors, and maintaining maximum intensity for years simply isn't sustainable. Amy and Andrea discuss why successful campaigns naturally move through periods of high activity and quieter stretches, and how understanding these cycles can reduce stress, prevent burnout, and improve fundraising outcomes. The discussion begins with an examination of seasonal fundraising patterns. Is summer really a slow time for fundraising? The answer depends on your organization, your donors, and your community. For some nonprofits, summer presents unique opportunities to connect with donors who are more relaxed and available. For others, donor travel patterns may create different challenges. Either way, making assumptions about donor availability can cause organizations to miss valuable opportunities. Amy and Andrea share examples of nonprofits that successfully leveraged summer activities and informal gatherings to deepen donor relationships and move campaign conversations forward. They discuss how cultivation often works best during periods when both staff and donors feel less rushed and more open to meaningful conversations. The conversation also addresses an important but often overlooked reality of campaign leadership: the emotional and organizational strain that accompanies major fundraising efforts. Capital campaigns involve large goals, significant stakes, and extended timelines. Amy and Andrea explain why nonprofit leaders should intentionally build breathing room into their campaign plans rather than attempting to maintain constant pressure throughout the life of a campaign. Listeners will learn how to identify productive ways to use quieter campaign periods, including donor cultivation, strategic planning, relationship building, and organizational reflection. Rather than viewing slower seasons as lost time, nonprofit leaders can use them to strengthen the foundation that supports future campaign success. If you're leading a capital campaign, preparing for a feasibility study, managing campaign volunteers, working with major donors, or looking for ways to sustain fundraising momentum over the long term, this episode provides valuable perspective on the rhythms and realities of campaign fundraising. In This Episode, You'll Learn:
To ensure your campaign ends in a celebration, download our free Capital Campaign Step-by-Step Guide & Checklist. This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign, from start to finish! | |||
| How a Capital Campaign can Turbo-Charge a Modest Fundraising Operation | 02 Jun 2026 | 00:31:50 | |
What does it actually take to launch a $40 million campaign when your organization has almost no fundraising history? Andrea Kihlstedt sits down with Wendy Connors, CEO of the Hertz Foundation, for a candid, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most remarkable campaign transformations in recent memory. The Hertz Foundation supports science and engineering PhD students — but for most of its history, it barely fundraised at all. When Wendy joined to lead development, the board didn't even know the difference between an annual gift and a campaign gift. What happened next is a masterclass in what capital campaigns can actually do for an organization. In this episode, you'll learn:
This is a must-listen for any nonprofit leader who wonders whether their organization has what it takes — and wants to hear from someone who found out firsthand. Ready to start your own campaign study? Get the full guide at capitalcampaignpro.com/feasibility-study-ultimate-guide/ | |||
| Three Myths About Where Your Biggest Campaign Donors Come From | 26 May 2026 | 00:18:35 | |
Where are your biggest campaign donors going to come from? If you're like most nonprofit leaders, the answer feels like "somewhere out there" — a major philanthropist who just needs to hear your story. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt are here to challenge that assumption — and bust the three most common donor myths that derail capital campaigns before they even get started. In this episode, you'll learn:
This is a must-share episode for board members, executive directors, and leadership teams who are still waiting for a magical major donor to show up. Ready to find out where your campaign really stands? Start with our free Campaign Readiness Assessment at capitalcampaignpro.com/assess | |||
| When Your Campaign Goes Over Goal: What to Do Next | 19 May 2026 | 00:17:52 | |
Three clients. One week. All of them over goal. And then the question no one fully prepares for: what do you do the day after? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt celebrate a remarkable milestone — three CCPro clients crossed their campaign finish lines in the same week — and walk through exactly what nonprofits should do in the hours, days, and weeks that follow. Because going over goal is not just a moment to celebrate. It is a pivotal window for relationship-building, staff recognition, and strategic communication that will shape your organization’s fundraising future. This episode is your guide to handling it well. In this episode, Amy and Andrea cover:
Whether you’re wrapping up a campaign right now or still years away from your finish line, this episode will help you plan for the moment that makes all the hard work worth it. Ready to start planning? Visit capitalcampaignpro.com/board-members-guide to download the free Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising. | |||
| When Big Donors Push Back: Navigating Ethics in Your Capital Campaign | 12 May 2026 | 00:25:56 | |
What do you do when your biggest donor wants to fund something that isn’t in your campaign plan? Or when a wealthy prospect makes you uneasy but you can’t quite explain why? These are the kinds of ethical gray areas that surface in nearly every capital campaign—and most organizations aren’t prepared for them. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Andrea Kihlstedt and Amy Eisenstein tackled the uncomfortable but essential topic of fundraising ethics. Prompted by the ongoing Epstein revelations—where major institutional leaders maintained relationships with a known bad actor long after red flags surfaced—the conversation expanded into the everyday ethical dilemmas that development directors and nonprofit leaders face during campaigns. The Epstein case is extreme, but the underlying dynamic is common: a donor with deep pockets and wide influence offers access, introductions, and large gifts. When something feels off, the temptation is to look the other way because the money is too important. Andrea and Amy’s message was clear—if you have a feeling in the pit of your stomach, pay attention to it. And more importantly, don’t carry it alone. Surface your concerns to board members, your executive director, or an ethics committee. These decisions should never rest on one person’s shoulders. But ethics in campaigns aren’t always about bad actors. More often, they show up as values conflicts. Andrea and Amy walked through a real scenario from a current client: a private school running a capital campaign received a million-dollar offer from a parent—but only if the money funded a new gymnasium, which wasn’t part of the strategic plan. The gift sounds generous, but accepting it could siphon other donors away from the campaign’s actual priorities, leaving science labs, scholarships, and teacher training underfunded. For organizations preparing for these kinds of board-level decisions, Capital Campaign Pro’s guide for board members offers a practical framework. Their recommended approach: don’t say no outright, and don’t say yes in isolation. Take it to the campaign committee. Consult lead donors. Explore a “yes, and” response—perhaps the gym becomes the next project after this campaign, and the donor leads that effort. The key is making it an organizational decision, not a one-person call. Andrea also shared a cautionary story about a community youth orchestra whose founding values of inclusivity were overridden by a small group of wealthy parents who wanted the orchestra to pursue elite performance. They gained board seats, shifted the mission, and eventually forced out the founders. The community ended up with two competing organizations, neither of which survived. It was a stark illustration of what happens when money is allowed to override mission. The practical takeaway: don’t wait for an ethical dilemma to arrive before figuring out how to handle it. Build the framework now. Discuss scenarios with your board before the campaign launches. Establish who gets consulted when a donor’s request falls outside the plan. Create a small committee or protocol for when something feels wrong. You don’t need all the answers in advance—you just need a process for finding them together. Planning a capital campaign? Download Capital Campaign Pro’s free Campaign Planning Checklist to make sure your team is prepared for every stage—including the conversations nobody wants to have: https://capitalcampaignpro.com/checklist/ | |||
| Not Every Capital Campaign Builds a Building — But This One Changed 800 Lives | 05 May 2026 | 00:28:31 | |
When most nonprofit leaders hear "capital campaign," they picture a new building. A groundbreaking ceremony. Architectural renderings. But what if the most transformative investment your organization could make isn’t a building at all — it’s the people who do the work? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Andrea Kihlstedt spoke with Esther Landau, Senior Director of Advancement Services at the Arc San Francisco, about a $3.3 million capital campaign that had nothing to do with bricks and mortar. Instead, the campaign funded staff pay increases to reduce crippling turnover and shrank a waitlist that was keeping adults with developmental disabilities from accessing services they needed. The Arc San Francisco, now celebrating its 75th anniversary, serves roughly 800 adults across three Bay Area counties. When their strategic planning process surfaced the root problem — staff wages were not sustainable, which meant they couldn’t hire enough people, which meant the waitlist grew — the campaign became the solution. Of the $3.3 million goal, $2.5 million went directly to increasing staff compensation, and $800,000 funded program growth including a new internship program with San Francisco Rec and Park. With one month left in the campaign and only $150,000 to go, Esther reflected on the surprises along the way. One donor she’d prepared to ask for $7,500 immediately responded with $25,000. Clients of the Arc — people the organization serves — asked to donate to the campaign themselves, raising important questions about ethical fundraising and the universal desire to contribute to something meaningful. For organizations considering whether they have the internal capacity to run a campaign, Capital Campaign Pro’s campaign resources offer a practical starting point. Not every moment was easy. Esther described stretches that felt like dragging a bag of rocks — donors who answered every email except the one about making a gift, months of cheerful persistence before a single meeting materialized. Her advice: the campaign moves at the speed of your donors, not the timeline your board wants. And if you haven’t gotten a no, the answer isn’t yet no. Some of the most creative work happened in cultivation. For the public phase launch, Esther’s team built an immersive experience where attendees assumed the identity of someone trying to access disability services and navigated real-world barriers — bureaucracy, transportation, waitlists — with outcomes determined by a roll of the dice. Some didn’t make it through. The ten-minute exercise gave donors a visceral understanding of the problem the campaign was solving. Esther also championed low-tech, high-touch donor outreach. When emails went unanswered, she recorded short personal video messages — casual, unpolished, like popping into someone’s office to say hello. Donors watched them. And they responded. As she put it: people feel it when you’ve made the personal effort to do something just for them. The takeaway from the Arc’s campaign is simple but powerful: capital campaigns don’t have to be about buildings. They can be about building capacity, building wages, and building the ability to serve more people. And sometimes that’s the most important building you can do. Considering a capital campaign for your organization? Download Capital Campaign Pro’s free campaign resources to explore your options and plan your path forward: https://capitalcampaignpro.com/campaign-resources | |||
| The 10-Year Rule: How Often Should Your Nonprofit Run a Capital Campaign? | 28 Apr 2026 | 00:15:35 | |
Most nonprofit leaders think of a capital campaign as a one-time event — a massive push that happens once, maybe twice in the life of an organization. But that mindset can actually hold organizations back. The most effective nonprofits treat campaigns as a recurring cycle, and understanding the right cadence can make the difference between an organization that grows strategically and one that stalls. On a recent Capital Campaign Pro podcast episode, Andrea Kihlstedt and Amy Eisenstein explored the timing and rhythm of capital campaigns—how often to run them, when to start planning, and what to do in between. Their core message: campaigns are healthy for organizations, and you should be running one at least every ten years. Why ten years? The math is simpler than you might think. You need roughly three years to plan what your organization will do next — strategic planning, building design, community input. Then you need three to four years to plan and execute the campaign itself. After that, donors need time to fulfill their pledges, which typically stretch over three years. Add a year to build, open, and steward, and you’re at about a decade. That doesn’t mean ten is a magic number. Some organizations move on a 12- or 15-year cycle. Others run mini campaigns in between major ones — a focused $1-2 million effort to fund a specific need like transportation, technology, or a program expansion. These smaller lifts keep donors engaged and organizational momentum alive without requiring the scale of a comprehensive campaign. For a step-by-step overview of how to prepare, see Capital Campaign Pro’s campaign planning checklist. One of the biggest mistakes nonprofits make is losing donor relationships between campaigns. Staff turns over, stewardship lapses, and the connections that powered the last campaign fade. Andrea shared a real story from just last week: a former client called to explore a second campaign after one of their major donors reached out proactively, offering to fund the next phase. That only happened because the organization had kept the donor closely involved—inviting her to events, sharing results, and maintaining a genuine relationship. Timing matters in another way too. A campaign is not a rescue plan. If your annual fundraising is struggling or your organization is operating at a deficit, a campaign will not fix that. Campaigns are designed to accelerate growth, not dig you out of a hole. The organizations best positioned for a campaign are ones with stable operations, engaged donors, and a clear vision for what comes next. The bottom line: don’t think of your campaign as a one-time event. Think of it as part of a cycle—plan, campaign, steward, repeat. If it’s been more than ten years since your last campaign, it may be time to start planning your next one. Wondering whether your organization is ready for a campaign? Take Capital Campaign Pro’s free Campaign Readiness Assessment to evaluate your position and identify your next steps: https://capitalcampaignpro.com/assess | |||
| Why More Nonprofits Are Ditching the Traditional Feasibility Study | 21 Apr 2026 | 00:30:58 | |
Before launching a capital campaign, most nonprofits hire a consultant to conduct a feasibility study. The consultant interviews donors, disappears for a few weeks, and returns with a report and a number. It’s the way it’s been done for decades. But a growing number of organizations are choosing a different path—and getting dramatically better results. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Andrea Kihlstedt sat down with Emily Cozart Mohammed, Vice President of Development at the Center for Investigative Reporting, to discuss her experience completing a Guided Feasibility Study for a $50 million campaign. The conversation made a compelling case for why the guided model is replacing the traditional approach. In a traditional feasibility study, an outside consultant conducts every donor interview, compiles the data, and delivers a final report. The organization gets a number and some general feedback, but the staff never hears directly from donors and often has no idea who said what. Emily put it bluntly: not having that intel within your own system feels backwards. The Guided Feasibility Study flips this model. Instead of outsourcing donor conversations, the organization’s own leaders—the VP of development, the CEO, trained board members—conduct the interviews themselves, with structured coaching and support from a Capital Campaign Pro advisor. The result is threefold: better data, deeper donor relationships, and a team that’s ready to fundraise. Emily’s team completed 55 interviews with a 2% decline rate—a remarkable response that reflects both donor engagement and organizational credibility. Donors told her repeatedly how much they preferred speaking directly with organizational leaders rather than, as one donor put it, another guy in a suit pitching one organization after another. For a deeper look at how feasibility studies fit into the campaign planning process, see Capital Campaign Pro’s ultimate guide to feasibility studies. The guided model also produced tangible early results. One donor made an early gift of $420,000 during the study. The team documented $8.5 million in planned gifts against a $10 million planned giving goal. And because every conversation was led by someone who knows the organization deeply, Emily reported a higher degree of certainty that stated gift intentions would hold. Perhaps most importantly, the process doubled as professional development. Gift officers who had never worked on a high-level campaign gained firsthand experience. The CEO became a vocal advocate for the process. Board members who participated in interviews arrived at the approval vote already informed and confident—so much so that Emily’s board presentation was met with almost no questions. Emily’s advice for organizations considering a campaign: if you’re hesitating between a traditional consultant-led study and a guided approach, don’t overthink it. The guided model is more work, but it’s not overwhelming—and the intelligence, relationships, and team readiness you gain are worth far more than a number in a report. Thinking about a feasibility study for your next campaign? Download the free Feasibility Study Ultimate Guide to understand the process, prepare your team, and set your campaign up for success. | |||
| From Ghost to Host: 7 Strategies to Re-Engage Donors Who’ve Gone Silent | 14 Apr 2026 | 00:23:00 | |
Every fundraiser has been there. A donor expresses interest, maybe even during a feasibility study, and then goes completely silent. Emails go unanswered. Calls aren’t returned. You’re being ghosted. It’s one of the most frustrating experiences in nonprofit fundraising, and one of the most common. On a recent Capital Campaign Pro podcast episode, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt shared a real client story and practical strategies for re-engaging donors who’ve gone dark. The story is worth telling. A client completed a guided feasibility study, during which a donor expressed strong interest in supporting the client's campaign. When the quiet phase began, and the team reached out to discuss his gift, they heard nothing. Emails, texts, calls—silence. Then, a board member who happened to know the donor asked him to host a cultivation event at his home with a celebrity chef. He said yes immediately. By changing the ask and the asker, they turned a ghost into a host. That’s strategy number one: Change the channel. If your development director has been emailing with no response, try a different person and a different request. A board member inviting someone to host an event is fundamentally different from a staff member following up on a pledge. Sometimes the shift in messenger and message is all it takes. Strategy two: Don’t make assumptions. You don’t know what’s happening in someone’s life. They may be overwhelmed at work, caring for a sick family member, or simply have a communication style that doesn’t match yours. Andrea shared a story about a longtime friend and major donor whose habit was simply not to confirm things—ever. Knowing that pattern prevented her from reading rejection into silence. Before you assume the worst, consider whether you’re actually being ghosted or just dealing with a slow responder. Strategy three: Keep your messages short. If a donor opens your email on their phone and has to scroll, they’re less likely to read it, let alone respond. Write your message, save it as a draft, come back, and cut it in half. One clear sentence with one clear ask will outperform a three-paragraph update every time. Strategy four: Propose a specific time. Fundraising legend Jerry Panas taught that the two best windows for scheduling are tomorrow and four to six weeks out. Tomorrow works because everyone knows their schedule. A month out works because calendars are open. The dead zone is the in-between. So instead of “let’s find a time,” try “I’m free tomorrow afternoon—what time works for you?” For more approaches to confident donor conversations, explore Capital Campaign Pro’s campaign planning checklist. Strategy five: Give them a graceful exit. Say: “If this isn’t the right time, I completely understand—just let me know so I’m not pestering you.” You’ll get either relief or reassurance. Either answer moves you forward. Strategy six: Try a new subject line. “Are you okay?” works surprisingly well because it signals genuine concern rather than a follow-up ask. It reframes the outreach from transactional to relational, which is exactly where nonprofit fundraising should live. Strategy seven: Remember that persistence is not pestering. One client reached out to a board member six times with no response. When confronted at a board meeting, the member said, “What do you mean? You only emailed me once.” She had no idea. Your outreach may feel repetitive to you, but donors are busy. Keep showing up. Ghosting stings. But in most cases, it’s not personal. The donors who go quiet are often still reachable—you just need to find the right door. Ready to build a fundraising strategy that keeps donors engaged from feasibility through close? Download our free Capital Campaign Planning Checklist to map out every phase of your campaign with clarity and confidence. | |||
| What to Do When a Donor Gives Before You Ask | 07 Apr 2026 | 00:16:34 | |
What do you do when a donor gives before you even ask? In this episode, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explore one of the most overlooked—and potentially costly—moments in capital campaign fundraising: the preemptive gift. While it may feel like an easy win, an early donation can actually limit a donor’s full potential if not handled strategically. Amy and Andrea walk through a real-world story and break down how experienced fundraisers navigate these situations with confidence, clarity, and intention. You’ll learn why donors give before being asked, how to respond in the moment, and how to keep the door open for a larger, more meaningful commitment. This conversation is especially valuable for executive directors, development leaders, and campaign volunteers who want to avoid common pitfalls and build stronger donor relationships. In this episode, you’ll learn:
If you’re preparing for a capital campaign, this is exactly the kind of real-world scenario your team needs to be ready for. Start by assessing your campaign readiness here: https://capitalcampaignpro.com/assess | |||
| Transcend or Transmit: How Nonprofit Leaders Can Break the Burnout Cycle | 31 Mar 2026 | 00:27:16 | |
You got into nonprofit work to make a difference. So why does it feel like you’re running on empty most days? On this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein sat down with Indra Lahiri — an organizational psychologist, certified traumatic stress specialist, and founder of Indraloka Animal Sanctuary — to talk about what burnout really looks like, why it’s more dangerous than most leaders realize, and what you can actually do about it. Most people think of burnout as simply being tired. And while exhaustion is part of it, Lahiri explains that burnout is more nuanced than that. It shows up as cynicism about your work, loss of motivation, and behavioral shifts you might not even recognize in yourself—like becoming overly controlling or short-tempered with colleagues and donors. For nonprofit professionals, burnout often stems from financial strain, overwhelming caseloads, or the emotional toll of serving people in crisis. But there’s a related condition that’s even more insidious: secondary traumatic stress. This occurs when you absorb the trauma of the people you’re trying to help. Unlike burnout, which builds gradually, secondary traumatic stress can rewire your brain in ways that mirror the effects of direct trauma. Your amygdala—the part of your brain responsible for detecting danger—gets stuck in fight-or-flight mode. And when that happens, your prefrontal cortex, the region you rely on for strategic thinking, clear communication, and relationship-building, gets hijacked. Think about what that means for fundraising. The skills you need most—asking donors for major gifts, coordinating with board members, explaining your capital campaign vision with clarity and confidence—are exactly the skills that suffer when your nervous system is in overdrive. You might think you’re functioning normally, but the people around you can tell something is off. Lahiri frames the choice every leader faces in stark terms: when you encounter trauma or chronic stress, you will either transcend it or transmit it. Transmitting looks like snapping at staff, micromanaging, withdrawing from donor relationships, or creating a culture of fear and reactivity. Transcending means doing the internal work required to regulate your nervous system, process what you’ve experienced, and lead from a place of stability rather than survival. That framing matters because it makes burnout a leadership issue, not just a personal one. When a nonprofit leader transmits their stress, it ripples through the entire organization—staff morale drops, donor relationships suffer, and the mission takes a hit. When they transcend it, they model resilience for their team and create the conditions for everyone to do their best work. So what does transcending actually look like in practice? Lahiri offers several accessible starting points. First, give yourself permission to take time—even an hour—that is entirely for you, not for your team, your board, or your donors. Second, learn basic nervous system regulation techniques. Deep breathing, meditation, physical movement, or even turning on music and dancing around your living room all count. The point is consistency, not perfection. One of her most practical recommendations is creating what she calls a self-care itinerary. Think of it like a project plan, but for your own wellbeing. Identify the emotional states you need throughout the day—calm, energized, soothed—and map specific activities to each one. Then schedule three small acts of self-care daily: morning, midday, and evening. Treat them as non-negotiable appointments, the same way you would treat a meeting with a major donor. If you’re preparing for or in the middle of a capital campaign and wondering whether your organization—and your team—are truly ready, start with a clear-eyed assessment. Take our free Capital Campaign Readiness Assessment to identify strengths, uncover gaps, and build a stronger foundation for success. https://capitalcampaignpro.com/assess | |||
| Is the Sky Really Falling? | 20 Mar 2026 | 00:16:47 | |
When the economy dips, political tensions rise, or a major funder pulls back, nonprofit leaders often hear the same refrain from anxious board members: "Maybe we should stop fundraising until things settle down." It sounds reasonable on the surface. But reacting out of fear rather than strategy is one of the most damaging things a nonprofit can do—especially in uncertain times. The instinct to hunker down is understandable. When headlines are alarming and the mood in the boardroom turns nervous, it can feel like the sky is falling. But is it really? And even if parts of your world are shifting, does pulling back on fundraising actually protect your organization—or does it make things worse? The truth is, at least half of what feels like a crisis is emotional rather than factual. Fear is contagious. All it takes is one or two board members raising alarms—"We need to stop asking for money right now"—for that anxiety to ripple through your staff, your volunteers, and your entire culture. If you haven’t thought through your response in advance, you’ll find yourself speechless when a respected board member suggests putting the brakes on your campaign or your annual fund. That’s why preparation matters so much. Before the next wave of uncertainty hits, nonprofit leaders need to separate emotion from evidence and have a clear-eyed view of their organization’s actual position. Are donations truly dropping—or did you lose one grant that felt bigger than it was? Are community members disengaging—or are you hearing secondhand anxiety that doesn’t match your data? The distinction between a real organizational threat and a contagious mood is critical, and it’s one that too few leadership teams take the time to draw. Andrea recommends building this kind of engagement into your organization’s annual rhythm. Instead of conducting a strategic planning process once every three to five years, consider hosting an annual planning day where you bring together board members, key funders, and community leaders to look at the landscape, assess what’s changed, identify emerging challenges, and gather advice. When that kind of conversation is already part of your culture, the next time someone cries "the sky is falling," you can point to the work you’ve already done and the partners who are already at the table. If you’re wondering whether your organization is ready to weather the next storm, start by assessing where you stand. Take our free Capital Campaign Readiness Assessment to identify your strengths, uncover gaps, and get a clear picture of your fundraising foundation. | |||
| Why Capital Campaigns Should Start with Ideas Instead of a Campaign Brochure | 10 Mar 2026 | 00:22:55 | |
Many organizations assume a polished campaign brochure is one of the first things they must create for a capital campaign. That assumption can slow down the most important work of building a compelling campaign. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Andrea Kihlstedt talks with Sarah Plimpton, Vice President and Chief Happiness Officer at Capital Campaign Pro, about campaign communications and why the traditional campaign brochure is often the wrong place to start. Drawing on conversations with many campaign leaders, Sarah explains why organizations frequently rush to produce glossy materials and how that instinct can interfere with stronger donor engagement. The discussion begins with a common scenario. Boards and campaign committees often want a sophisticated brochure they can show friends and donors. The thinking is simple: a professional-looking document signals credibility and readiness. Andrea and Sarah explain why this approach misses a critical opportunity early in the campaign process. A campaign case for support is not a single document. It is a clear set of ideas that explain why the campaign matters, what it will accomplish, and how the funding will make that vision possible. The early phase of campaign planning should focus on developing those ideas. Andrea describes how organizations benefit when board members, staff leaders, and volunteers participate in shaping the argument for the campaign. When people wrestle with the core questions of purpose, impact, and urgency, their own commitment grows. The process builds understanding and enthusiasm long before the first major donor conversation takes place. Sarah shares why producing a finished brochure too early can limit flexibility. Campaigns unfold over time and plans often evolve. Project costs shift. New opportunities appear. Certain elements gain traction while others fade. Printed materials that lock in a specific version of the campaign can make it harder to adapt as those changes occur. There is also a deeper strategic reason to avoid a polished brochure at the start. Early campaign conversations should invite donors into the thinking behind the campaign. When organizations present a finalized document, the message to donors is that the organization has already solved the problem and simply needs financial support. When donors see draft materials and evolving ideas, they can take part in shaping the effort. That approach encourages donors to act as partners in the work rather than sources of funding. As the campaign progresses, communication strategies shift with each phase. Early stages focus on developing ideas and testing them with lead donors. Later phases introduce broader materials such as campaign websites, videos, or printed pieces that reach a wider community. The underlying case for support remains consistent while the communication tools expand to match a growing audience. Sarah closes the conversation with practical guidance for campaign leaders who are beginning to think about communications. Start with the ideas behind the campaign. Gather board members, volunteers, and staff to clarify why the campaign matters, what impact it will create, and how the fundraising will make that vision possible. When those ideas become clear and widely understood, the rest of the campaign communication process becomes far more effective. For nonprofit leaders preparing for a capital campaign, this conversation offers a practical reframing of campaign communications. Strong campaigns begin with clear ideas and collaborative thinking. The brochure can wait. To see how this philosophy plays out in a feasibility study, be sure to download our free Ultimate Guide to Capital Campaign Feasibility Studies. | |||
| Stop Nagging Your Campaign Committee and Start Getting Results | 03 Mar 2026 | 00:17:12 | |
If your campaign committee members agreed to make calls but nothing is happening, this episode will change how you respond and improve your results. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, co-founders Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt tackle a common frustration in capital campaigns: committee members who accept prospect portfolios and then stall. The assignments are clear. The meeting is approaching. The report forms are empty. The development director is wondering how often she can “bug” people before the relationship starts to fray. Sound familiar? Andrea shares a real scenario from a weekly client support call where a lead gift committee of eight capable volunteers had one simple task: reach out to people they already knew and set up introductory conversations with the executive director. These were not solicitation calls. They were warm introductions. And yet, no one had made a move. Instead of offering tactics for stronger reminders or tighter accountability systems, Amy and Andrea propose something more effective: a shift in frame. What if the development director stopped thinking in terms of assignments and started thinking in terms of partnership? What if the question changed from “Why haven’t you done this yet?” to “What’s getting in your way?” In this practical and insightful conversation, you will learn:
Amy and Andrea explain that volunteers rarely resist out of indifference. More often, they feel unsure about how to start the conversation or nervous about how it will be received. A short opening script, a few bullet points, or a scheduled “call time” with staff support can remove that barrier. Once the first call is made, confidence builds quickly. You will also hear why development staff must resist the urge to become the schoolmarm. Campaign leadership works best when staff position themselves as allies. When volunteers sense that staff understand their hesitation and want to help them succeed, progress accelerates. This episode also explores a powerful campaign truth: clarity is everything. A yes allows you to move forward. A no allows you to move on. The maybes are what drain energy and stall campaigns. Teaching committee members to seek clarity liberates both staff and volunteers. If you are preparing for a capital campaign, leading a lead gift effort, or struggling with committee accountability, this episode offers practical guidance you can apply immediately. The strategies shared here are the same approaches Capital Campaign Pro uses with clients across the country to keep campaigns on track and relationships strong. Listen in to learn how to replace pressure with partnership and transform your committee from hesitant to confident ambassadors for your mission. For more free capital campaign resources, visit https://capitalcampaignpro.com/campaign-resources. | |||
| Will Your Capital Campaign Cannibalize Your Annual Fund? What Really Happens | 24 Feb 2026 | 00:24:53 | |
Will a capital campaign drain your annual fund or strengthen it in ways you never expected? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Andrea Kihlstedt talks with Hilary Jansen, Director of Philanthropic Engagement at Community MusicWorks in Providence, Rhode Island, about what actually happens to annual fundraising during and after a major capital campaign. Community MusicWorks recently completed a $15 million building campaign and has now lived through the results. If you worry that campaign gifts will replace annual gifts, this conversation offers real-world clarity. Community MusicWorks is a classical music performance, education, and social justice nonprofit with a powerful community presence. Before launching its campaign, the organization operated on an annual budget of $1.2 million. After opening its new 24,000 square foot home, that budget grew to $2.3 million. With 40 percent of revenue coming from individual giving and no tuition income, the stakes were high. Leadership had a legitimate concern: Would asking donors for larger, multi year capital gifts weaken annual support? Instead, the opposite occurred. Hilary shares how the campaign became a catalyst for annual giving. Annual fund goals increased. Donors continued to give. Many increased their annual contributions even after making significant campaign commitments. The campaign did not erode trust. It strengthened it. Why did this happen? First, seasoned philanthropists understand the difference between capital and annual support. They recognize that both are essential. Second, Community MusicWorks had invested for years in deep, authentic relationships. Donors trusted the leadership and believed in the mission. When the organization expressed a need, supporters understood it as genuine. The new building itself also transformed fundraising. The campaign was about bricks and mortar on paper, but in reality it was about mission growth. The building created a visible, tangible home for programs that were once harder to picture. Concertgoers now see lessons in action. Families gather in shared spaces. Community members walk in off the street and discover the work. The physical space provides context for larger annual asks and attracts new supporters who experience the mission firsthand. Andrea and Hilary also discuss the post campaign moment. After a successful $15 million effort, Community MusicWorks faced a higher operating budget and expanded programming. Would donors feel fatigued? Would they say enough? In practice, very few pushed back. Most understood that a larger organization requires greater annual investment. The building was not the end goal. It was the platform for expanded impact. Hilary reflects on lessons learned after stepping into development without prior fundraising experience. She emphasizes that fundraising is relationship work at its core. The success of the campaign rested on years of trust, stewardship, and shared belief. She also shares a critical insight for campaign leaders: You are not raising money for a building. You are raising money for what that building makes possible. This episode is essential listening for nonprofit leaders, development directors, board members, and executive directors who fear that launching a campaign will jeopardize annual revenue. Hear a candid account of what actually happens when relationships, mission clarity, and thoughtful planning come together. If your organization depends heavily on annual giving and you are considering a capital campaign, this conversation will reshape how you think about donor behavior, growth, and long term sustainability. To see what the research truly says about the impact of capital campaigns on the annual fund, download the State of Capital Campaigns Benchmark Report. | |||
| The Secret to Major Gifts Success is Making Time for Donor Conversations | 17 Feb 2026 | 00:16:26 | |
What if the biggest barrier to your capital campaign success is the phrase “we don’t have time”? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt pull back the curtain on a truth that experienced fundraising consultants see every day: organizations that prioritize real conversations with major donors outperform those that try to outsource or avoid them. Drawing from their work with nearly one hundred small and mid sized nonprofits at a time, Amy and Andrea unpack the mindset shift that separates stalled campaigns from fully funded ones. As nonprofits consider a capital campaign or feasibility study, leaders often split into two camps. Some are eager to sit down with their largest prospective donors and hear their thoughts. Others insist they are too busy running programs, managing staff, and keeping up with daily demands. Amy and Andrea challenge that assumption directly. Every leader has twenty four hours in a day. The question is not about time. It is about priority. You will hear why treating donor conversations as optional or delegating them to a consultant is a serious warning sign for campaign readiness. While there are tasks that can and should be outsourced, building relationships with top campaign prospects is not one of them. Major gift fundraising depends on authentic connection between organizational leadership and donors. When that relationship is handed off, a powerful opportunity is lost. Amy explains the Capital Campaign Pro guided feasibility study model, which equips executive directors and board members to lead strategic donor conversations themselves. Rather than sending in an outside consultant to gather feedback, leaders receive coaching, structure, role play, and debrief support so they can confidently meet with their top prospects. These early conversations take place before any formal ask, creating a lower pressure environment where leaders can listen, build trust, and gain insight into donor interests. Andrea shares a story from the early days of this model. A nonprofit leader insisted that he did not want a consultant talking to his donors. He understood that the moment of conversation was an opportunity to strengthen real relationships. Years later, that campaign remains one of the most successful they have seen, with donors giving generously and repeatedly. The reason was simple: relationships were formed and nurtured by the people closest to the mission. The episode also addresses the emotional side of major gifts. When you only have a small number of prospects capable of giving six figure gifts, the stakes feel high. Anxiety can hold leaders back. Amy and Andrea describe how coaching and preparation build confidence over time. Leaders who begin the feasibility process feeling nervous often finish it energized, surprised by how meaningful and even enjoyable the conversations have become. By the time the formal ask happens, it is no longer the first meeting. The donor has been heard. The leader has practiced. Trust has been established. That shift changes everything about a capital campaign. You will also hear Andrea outline three types of nonprofit leaders: the rare few who are excited to talk to major donors from the start, those who resist and prefer to hand fundraising to someone else, and the large group in the middle who are anxious yet willing to grow. The transformation happens in that middle group. When leaders commit to regular, thoughtful donor engagement, fundraising capacity expands long after the campaign ends. If you are planning a capital campaign, conducting a feasibility study, or trying to strengthen your major gift fundraising program, this episode offers a clear message. Sustainable campaign success begins with leaders who make time for donor relationships and treat those conversations as central to their role. For more free capital campaign resources, visit https://capitalcampaignpro.com/campaign-resources. | |||
| What the Data Really Says About Capital Campaign Success | 10 Feb 2026 | 00:22:02 | |
Most capital campaign advice comes from stories and experience. This episode brings three years of real data that confirms what actually works and what common fears miss. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, host Amy Eisenstein is joined by Steven Shattuck, Director of Engagement and Technology at Capital Campaign Pro, to share findings from the third annual Capital Campaign Benchmark Report. Drawing on responses from more than 650 organizations, they explore what successful campaigns have in common, how annual funds perform during and after campaigns, and why gift distribution follows a predictable pattern that boards need to understand. Amy and Steven begin by explaining how the research is conducted and why the consistency across three years matters. Organizations at every stage were surveyed, from early planning to post campaign completion, creating a living dataset that reflects how campaigns actually unfold. With that foundation in place, they tackle one of the biggest questions nonprofit leaders ask. Are capital campaigns successful? The answer from the data is clear. An overwhelming majority of completed campaigns report success, even when final totals land below the original goal. Many organizations still complete transformative projects, expand services, and raise more money than ever before. The conversation then turns to a long standing concern that often stops campaigns before they start. What happens to the annual fund? The research shows that for most organizations, annual giving holds steady or increases during a campaign, followed by strong growth after the campaign concludes. Amy and Steven discuss why this happens and how thoughtful campaign planning strengthens donor relationships, systems, and staff capacity in ways that support long term fundraising health. They also break down one of the most misunderstood elements of campaign strategy. Where the money really comes from. New data confirms that a small group of lead donors provides the majority of campaign dollars, reinforcing the importance of a disciplined quiet phase, early leadership gifts, and a realistic gift range chart. This section offers clear language leaders can use with boards to explain why campaigns are built from the top down and inside out. Throughout the episode, the focus stays on practical insight backed by evidence. From feasibility studies to board expectations, this conversation equips nonprofit leaders with credible data they can use to plan, explain, and lead campaigns with confidence. You can download the full 2026 Capital Campaign Benchmark Report here and share it with your leadership teams as a grounding tool for smarter decisions. | |||
| Crisis, Clarity, and Capital Campaign Leadership: How Smart Donor Engagement Strengthens Decisions | 03 Feb 2026 | 00:21:57 | |
A snowstorm shuts down a city, a systems failure brings operations to a halt, or a major campaign gift suddenly falls apart. Moments like these reveal how strong a nonprofit’s donor relationships really are. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, host Amy Eisenstein is joined by Capital Campaign Pro co founder Andrea Kihlstedt to explore how nonprofit leaders can engage donors as true partners during moments of uncertainty, urgency, and high stakes decision making. Drawing from real world examples ranging from weather emergencies to immigration enforcement disruptions to internal system failures, Amy and Andrea share practical guidance on how leaders can communicate clearly, think strategically, and strengthen donor trust when circumstances change fast. The conversation begins with external crises that affect entire communities, such as severe weather events or sudden policy actions that disrupt daily life. Amy and Andrea discuss how these moments create natural opportunities to reach out to major donors with care, transparency, and purpose. They explain why timely phone calls often matter more than broad email messages, and how early communication helps donors feel informed, valued, and connected to the organization’s thinking. Listeners will hear how involving donors does not always mean asking for advice. Sometimes it means sharing decisions before they become public. Sometimes it means checking in personally to see how a donor is doing. Other times it means inviting a small group of trusted supporters to help think through options, risks, and tradeoffs. Amy and Andrea emphasize that discernment matters, since every donor plays a different role. The episode then turns to internal crises, including technology failures, data disruptions, leadership challenges, and reputational threats. Amy and Andrea speak candidly about their own experience when Capital Campaign Pro faced a complete systems outage, and how that experience highlighted the value of contingency planning and donor expertise. They explain why transparency builds confidence over time and how reaching out to donors with relevant experience can lead to stronger solutions and better preparedness. The discussion also connects these ideas directly to capital campaigns. Amy and Andrea walk through scenarios that campaign leaders fear most, including a lead gift that collapses late in the process or a project that suddenly becomes unviable. They outline how early communication, scenario planning, and thoughtful donor engagement can help organizations respond with clarity rather than panic. Throughout the episode, the message remains consistent. Donors want to feel like partners, especially during moments that matter. When nonprofit leaders communicate early, think ahead, and invite the right people into the conversation, crises often become turning points that deepen relationships and strengthen campaigns. This episode offers nonprofit executives, development professionals, and campaign leaders practical insight into building donor relationships that hold steady when plans change and decisions carry real weight. | |||
| How to Hire the Right Capital Campaign Consultant and Get Your Board Fully On Board | 27 Jan 2026 | 00:26:11 | |
Hiring a capital campaign consultant can quietly shape the success of your entire campaign, long before a single dollar is raised. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, hosts Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt walk through how nonprofit leaders can involve their boards, educate their teams, and choose a capital campaign consultant with clarity and confidence. Amy and Andrea share why the consultant selection process itself creates valuable learning for board members and staff, even before any hiring decision is made. They explain how a thoughtful process builds alignment, surfaces assumptions, and helps organizations understand what experienced capital campaign support actually looks like. Listeners hear why starting with conversations matters more than paperwork, and how early calls with consultants reveal far more than a standardized proposal ever could. Amy and Andrea outline how to form an effective consultant selection committee, who should serve, how large it should be, and how to set expectations so the work stays focused and productive. They also explain how involving skeptical board members at the right moment can strengthen buy in rather than stall progress. The conversation addresses one of the most common missteps nonprofits make when hiring a consultant: relying on an RFP to drive the decision. Amy and Andrea explain how RFPs often lead organizations to define services they do not yet understand, while strong consultants respond best to real conversations about goals, readiness, leadership dynamics, and fundraising history. Listeners learn what to listen for during early calls, including curiosity, responsiveness, and the kinds of questions consultants ask when they truly understand campaigns. This episode also tackles persistent myths about local consultants and donor lists. Amy and Andrea clarify why ethical capital campaign consulting never involves bringing outside donors into an organization, and why experience across many campaigns matters more than proximity. They discuss how national firms bring broader perspective, tested approaches, and exposure to a wide range of campaign environments, while still respecting local context and relationships. As the episode continues, Amy and Andrea explain how to narrow a consultant list, gather proposals that actually reflect strategic thinking, and evaluate models of support. They compare hands on implementation approaches with advisory and coaching models, helping listeners identify which style best fits their organization, staff capacity, and campaign goals. The discussion also highlights why staff leadership matters in the final decision, since staff will work most closely with the consultant throughout the campaign. This episode offers practical guidance for nonprofit executives, development leaders, and board chairs who want to approach consultant selection with intention rather than pressure or assumptions. By the end, listeners gain a clearer understanding of how to use the hiring process as a learning opportunity, how to avoid common traps, and how to choose a consultant who truly strengthens their campaign from start to finish. For more board engagement tips, be sure to download our free Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising. It answers the questions board members most frequently ask, or wish they could ask. | |||
| Your Biggest Capital Campaign Donors After the Ask: What Happens Next Matters Most | 20 Jan 2026 | 00:21:02 | |
Your largest capital campaign donors often give early, generously, and then quietly disappear from view. That silence can cost you far more than most organizations realize. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, hosts Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt talk candidly about what strong stewardship looks like during the long middle stretch of a capital campaign and why the period after the initial gift is where future success is decided. Andrea and Amy explain how capital campaigns are built on a small number of transformational gifts, why those donors are usually secured early, and how easy it is for even well run organizations to lose momentum with the people who matter most. The conversation explores what major donors experience when months pass without meaningful contact, updates, or personal outreach. Amy and Andrea share practical ways to stay in close relationship with your top twenty to twenty five donors through consistent, thoughtful communication that keeps them engaged as partners rather than completed transactions. They discuss simple systems leaders can use to keep these donors front of mind, from monthly reviews to creative reminders that prompt personal outreach. Listeners will hear real stories from campaigns where steady stewardship made the difference. One example shows how a campaign that stalled near the finish line was completed by returning to early donors who had been kept informed and involved all along. Another story highlights how asking a major donor for advice during an unexpected challenge led to an extraordinary outcome that reshaped the organization’s future. The episode also addresses a common reality in nonprofit leadership. Many development directors inherit donor relationships that were neglected after a previous campaign. Amy and Andrea outline clear steps for repairing trust, resetting expectations, and building a healthier culture of stewardship going forward. They explain how organizations can create shared responsibility and simple structures so donor care continues through staff transitions and busy campaign periods. This episode offers practical guidance for executive directors, board members, and development professionals who want to protect their most important relationships, finish campaigns strong, and set the stage for future giving long after the campaign ends. To see if your organization is truly ready for a capital campaign, download this free Readiness Assessment. This guide will help you evaluate six aspects of your organization, including the board and your case for support. | |||
| Capital Campaigns Without a Traditional Board: How Small and Grassroots Organizations Raise Big Money | 13 Jan 2026 | 00:35:02 | |
When your board lacks time, wealth, or fundraising experience, does that mean a capital campaign is out of reach? In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, host Andrea Kihlstedt is joined by fundraising trainer, author, and longtime colleague Andy Robinson to explore how capital campaigns succeed in small, grassroots, and unconventional organizations. Drawing on decades of experience and two detailed case studies, Andy challenges common assumptions about board driven fundraising and shows what really makes campaigns work when infrastructure is thin and capacity feels limited. Together, Andrea and Andy unpack what happens when organizations face urgent needs, limited systems, and boards that care deeply about the mission yet cannot carry the bulk of fundraising activity. Andy shares the story of a tiny, lay led synagogue with a modest annual budget that raised over $775,000 across a multi year capital effort, even after part of the building was condemned. The campaign relied on a handful of committed leaders, strong belief in the mission, and steady persistence rather than a large or wealthy board. The conversation then shifts to a very different setting, a member owned food cooperative that raised more than $2 million to relocate and expand. The board focused on complex business negotiations while a volunteer campaign committee led community fundraising. Through a blend of gifts, community loans, fiscal sponsorship, and impact investing, supporters gave generously and stayed deeply engaged in the future of the co op. Throughout the episode, Andrea and Andy connect these stories back to core capital campaign principles that apply across sectors and organizational structures. They discuss why people give, what truly motivates participation, and how engagement and investment reinforce one another over time. They also address why tax deductions and legal status rarely drive generosity, how urgency sharpens focus, and why campaigns can build confidence and momentum even in organizations that feel under resourced. This episode is especially relevant for nonprofit leaders, board members, consultants, and community organizers who worry their organization is too small, too new, or too informal for a capital campaign. It offers reassurance, perspective, and practical insight into what matters most when asking people to invest in something they care about. If you work with grassroots organizations, faith communities, cooperatives, or nonprofits with lean staffing and limited systems, this conversation will expand how you think about capital campaigns and what is truly possible when commitment runs deep. For more free capital campaign resources, visit https://capitalcampaignpro.com/campaign-resources. | |||
| Is There Ever a Bad Time to Run a Capital Campaign? | 06 Jan 2026 | 00:17:46 | |
There is always someone in the room who believes the timing is wrong, the moment feels uncertain, and waiting sounds safer than moving forward. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, hosts Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt tackle one of the most common objections heard in boardrooms and leadership meetings: the belief that now is a bad time to raise money. Drawing from a real dinner conversation and decades of campaign experience, they unpack why this concern surfaces year after year and why it continues to stall bold plans. Amy and Andrea explore how uncertainty shapes donor behavior and how strong organizations respond when the climate feels unsettled. They share what they see across hundreds of campaigns during economic shifts, political tension, public health crises, and periods of social change. The conversation highlights a pattern that surprises many nonprofit leaders: organizations with a clear vision, strong leadership, and thoughtful donor relationships continue to raise significant gifts in every season. The episode walks through common fears voiced by board members and major donors, including anxiety about financial markets, concerns about personal security, and questions about generational giving. Amy responds with practical insight grounded in real campaign results, showing how donors continue to act generously when they feel connected to meaningful work and trusted leadership. Listeners will hear how instability often sharpens a case for support, motivating long time donors to lean in when public funding tightens or community needs grow. The discussion also addresses planned giving, stewardship, and the lasting impact of how donors feel after they make a gift. Andrea emphasizes how thoughtful follow up and personal connection influence future generosity far more than headlines or economic forecasts. The episode closes with a powerful reminder that capital campaigns unfold over years, not moments. Leaders who keep planning and stay in conversation with donors place their organizations in a stronger position when conditions shift again, as they always do. For anyone facing hesitation from a board, an executive director, or even their own internal doubts, this episode offers language, perspective, and confidence to keep moving forward. To ensure your campaign ends in a celebration, download our free Capital Campaign Step-by-Step Guide & Checklist. This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign, from start to finish! | |||
| How to Create a Behind the Scenes Power Team | 30 Dec 2025 | 00:13:17 | |
In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, campaign experts Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt discuss why it matters that your board chair, executive director, and development director are the real power team for your campaign and they share some thoughts about how to get them working together well. | |||
| Can you Raise Money for Endowment Through a Campaign? | 23 Dec 2025 | 00:18:01 | |
Capital campaigns are not well suited for raising money for endowment. The most successful endowment fundraising is done through concentrated work on planned giving. That being said, most campaigns include a component of endowment. Amy and Andrea will unpack this complicated idea in this episode. | |||
| How Neuroscience Shapes Donor Decisions in Capital Campaigns | 16 Dec 2025 | 00:39:49 | |
Stories change how people think, feel, and choose to act, and the science behind that process has direct implications for fundraising success. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein welcomes Cherian Koshy, vice president at Kindsight and a leading voice on the neuroscience of generosity, to explore how brain science explains donor behavior in major gifts and capital campaigns. Drawing from his new book Neurogiving: The Science of Donor Decision Making, Cherian shares research from hundreds of peer reviewed studies that explain how donors experience stories, make identity based decisions, and move from emotional connection to meaningful action. This conversation connects neuroscience with practical fundraising strategy, offering insight that campaign leaders, development staff, and board members can apply right away. The discussion opens with storytelling and brain chemistry. Cherian explains how narrative creates neural coupling, a process where the listener experiences the story at a physical and emotional level. This shared experience shapes understanding, memory, and motivation. Fundraisers learn why stories shape donor choices and how thoughtful language and narrative arcs influence how supporters experience a mission. The conversation then shifts to major and leadership gifts within capital campaigns. Cherian explains what happens in a donor’s brain when considering a significant commitment. Rather than focusing on affordability, donors connect gifts to identity, values, nostalgia, and legacy. Amy and Cherian discuss how campaigns succeed when messaging reflects who donors see themselves becoming and how the project expresses that identity through impact rather than square footage. Decision friction and generosity decay form another core theme. Cherian outlines how delays, long processes, and complex steps slow generous intent. When emotional connection and action drift apart, motivation fades. Examples from campaign follow up, pledge processes, and online giving show how timing and simplicity keep donors engaged when enthusiasm runs high. The episode also examines campaign thermometers and the goal gradient effect. Cherian explains why campaigns gain momentum near the finish line and why the quiet phase plays a central role in building confidence and participation. Amy connects this science to proven capital campaign strategy, reinforcing the value of early leadership gifts, phased solicitation, and disciplined sequencing. Throughout the episode, listeners gain language, frameworks, and research grounded insight that explains why proven campaign practices work. This conversation equips fundraisers with science backed clarity that strengthens storytelling, major gift conversations, and campaign structure while building trust with donors, boards, and leadership teams. For more free capital campaign resources, visit https://capitalcampaignpro.com/campaign-resources. | |||
| When Capital Campaigns Hit a Snag: How to Respond, Adjust, and Keep Moving Forward | 09 Dec 2025 | 00:23:38 | |
The moment a major gift falls through, a construction issue pops up, or a key leader steps away can feel like a turning point. Yet these situations often reveal how much control organizations actually have during a capital campaign. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explore the practical actions nonprofit leaders can take when campaigns encounter real-world bumps; from project delays to leadership changes and unexpected donor situations. Campaigns unfold over long periods of time, which means surprises are almost guaranteed. Amy and Andrea outline the four most common categories of challenges: project complications, staff transitions, board disruptions, and donor or gift issues. They share stories from campaigns where discoveries during construction altered entire timelines, where board members created friction just as solicitations were ramping up, and where donor misunderstandings required recalibration of expectations. You’ll hear how organizations found footing again, often with stronger clarity and focus than before. A key theme in this conversation centers on defining success. Instead of locking success to a specific number, Amy and Andrea encourage leaders to look at whether the project itself moved forward in meaningful ways. They describe campaigns that raised less than the initial working goal but still transformed services for the community, and others where early enthusiasm pushed the goal higher. Their message: success reflects the full picture of outcomes, strategy, and impact, not a rigid starting figure. The episode also introduces the two core levers every organization controls: the working goal and the timeline. By using a flexible goal during the quiet phase, campaign leaders maintain room to adjust based on donor feedback, project changes, or unexpected opportunities. Likewise, timeline extensions can be used effectively when genuine prospects remain. Amy and Andrea explain why extensions only make sense when the prospect list supports additional solicitations, and how leaders can recognize the moment when calling the campaign complete is the most strategic move. Listeners gain insight into how campaigns can evolve, why most campaigns eventually adjust their plans, and how confidence grows when leaders recognize that these shifts are normal. Amy and Andrea close with a discussion about aspirational goals; goals that stretch an organization toward the full potential of its donor community. They emphasize that reaching slightly below a bold stretch goal often produces a far more powerful outcome than aiming safely from the start. This episode offers a grounded perspective, seasoned guidance, and encouraging examples to help nonprofit leaders stay steady and strategic through the full arc of a campaign. Anyone planning or managing a capital campaign will walk away with a stronger sense of how to respond when circumstances shift and how to maintain momentum through uncertainty. To ensure your campaign ends in a celebration, download our free Capital Campaign Step-by-Step Guide & Checklist. This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign, from start to finish! | |||
| Five Feasibility Study Myths That Hold Campaigns Back | 02 Dec 2025 | 00:30:10 | |
Some long-held assumptions about feasibility studies can slow an organization’s progress long before a campaign begins. Many teams believe they should polish every detail, finalize every plan, and prepare elaborate materials before speaking with their largest supporters. But when you pause to look closely, those assumptions create missed opportunities and weaker campaign momentum. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, Andrea Kihlstedt and Capital Campaign Pro’s Vice President and Chief Happiness Officer, Sarah Plimpton, take a close look at five common myths surrounding feasibility studies and shed light on a more effective approach: the Guided Feasibility Study Model. Drawing from years of collective experience and more than one hundred guided studies, they share why early donor conversations strengthen your case, sharpen your direction, and build the kind of relationships that fuel successful campaigns. Andrea explains how her early career conducting traditional studies revealed a key flaw. Consultants were often the first people to speak with major donors about a project, even though they were not the ones who knew the organization’s plans with the same depth and nuance. When donors asked questions about the vision, program details, or the reasoning behind the project, the consultant could only speak to what they had been told. That disconnect revealed the need for a new structure—one that placed executive directors, board chairs, and other leaders directly in front of donors while still benefiting from consultant expertise behind the scenes. Sarah then walks through the first myth: the belief that everything must be polished before meeting with donors. She describes how donors respond with enthusiasm when they are invited to help shape ideas during the early planning stage. Instead of feeling like they are being presented with a finished product, donors feel trusted. They ask better questions, offer insight leaders may not have considered, and place greater value on the project because they helped strengthen it. Andrea and Sarah then address the idea that leaders do not have enough time for this level of involvement. They share stories of executive directors who initially felt overwhelmed yet soon realized that these donor conversations were the most important work they could be doing. When leaders reorganize their priorities, delegate less essential tasks, and commit to these meetings, the entire campaign gains clarity. Next, they take on the myth that feasibility studies slow things down. In practice, Andrea and Sarah have seen the opposite. The guided model leads to early relationship-building, clearer messaging, and, on occasion, early commitments. Leaders walk into the quiet phase with stronger groundwork already in place because cultivation has been happening throughout the study. Finally, they explain why consultant involvement still matters even when leaders conduct the interviews. Consultants train interviewers, shape the right questions, help teams gather useful information, and interpret feedback so the organization can produce a meaningful report for its board. Without this support, leaders may struggle to make sense of what they hear or overlook important themes. The episode closes with a shared observation: leaders consistently find these conversations enjoyable. Many say they wish the study could continue because the discussions feel energizing and deeply connected to their mission. Andrea notes that this shift often strengthens fundraising long after the campaign is complete. If your organization is preparing for a major project or exploring the first steps of campaign planning, this episode offers guidance that will help you build stronger relationships and clearer direction from the start. For more feasibility study guidance, be sure to download our free Ultimate Guide to Capital Campaign Feasibility Studies. | |||
| Finding and Securing Lead Donors for a Successful Capital Campaign | 25 Nov 2025 | 00:20:11 | |
Curiosity about who your earliest campaign leaders could be often sparks surprising discoveries and opens paths to support you may not have recognized. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, hosts Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt explore how organizations can identify and engage the select group of donors who provide the earliest and most significant gifts in a campaign. Their conversation offers clear, practical guidance for anyone preparing to launch a major fundraising effort or reassessing their current prospect pool. Amy and Andrea begin by breaking down a truth that catches many organizations off guard: more than half of your campaign goal will come from twenty or fewer donors. They explain why this pattern is consistent across campaigns of all sizes and why even small or midsize organizations should expect the same dynamic. What often surprises leaders is realizing they may already know several people who could step into those roles once the right project is presented to them. From there, the discussion turns to understanding donor potential. Many donors give modest amounts simply because they’ve never been invited to support a bold vision. That makes your largest annual donors (whether they give $5,000, $10,000, or $25,000) the most likely candidates to consider a six- or seven-figure gift when a compelling campaign arises. Amy and Andrea outline how to recognize early signals of capacity by observing patterns in a donor’s giving history across your organization and the wider community. The episode then walks through a practical approach to assembling a strong list of leadership-level prospects. This includes reviewing your current donor data, speaking with board members, and using wealth insights to form an initial group of ten or more people who could consider gifts of $1 million or higher. Amy and Andrea also emphasize the importance of looking beyond your files to the broader philanthropic landscape around you. In many communities, a small group of generous individuals consistently support major projects across several institutions. Seeing those patterns helps you understand who might step forward for your campaign. To support that effort, the hosts offer a simple field exercise: visit donor walls at nearby hospitals, theaters, libraries, and museums to observe which names appear repeatedly. Noticing these patterns sharpens your understanding of who cares deeply about your community and may be open to learning about your plans. The conversation also addresses the preparation needed before a feasibility study. Amy explains how assembling a list of twenty to forty individuals capable of contributing gifts of $100,000 or more strengthens the study and improves the accuracy of your early projections. She offers guidance on how long list-building can take and why these early steps are key to an effective quiet phase later on. A recurring theme throughout the episode is the value of curiosity. Andrea highlights the power of asking, “Who else should I be talking to?” This single question encourages donors, board members, and community leaders to open doors, make introductions, and broaden your audience. It also provides an easy way to circle back to earlier conversations and express genuine appreciation. The episode closes with a welcome reminder: campaign fundraising is energizing when it is rooted in mission and authentic relationships. Following curiosity, learning about people, and building meaningful connections brings a sense of purpose to the work. That spirit is what leads to transformational support and lasting community impact. To ensure your campaign ends in a celebration, download our free Capital Campaign Step-by-Step Guide & Checklist. This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign, from start to finish! | |||
| The Most Important Principle of Capital Campaign Fundraising | 18 Nov 2025 | 00:21:12 | |
A core principle shapes the success of every capital campaign, and this conversation clarifies exactly how it works and why it matters. In this episode of All About Capital Campaigns, co-hosts Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt talk with each other about the strategic order of solicitation and how top gifts drive momentum, confidence, and overall campaign performance. Andrea explains why campaigns depend on gifts of varied sizes and how a thoughtful gift range chart helps leaders understand what it will take to reach a major goal. Amy expands on the Pareto principle and the 90/10 pattern that appears so frequently in campaign fundraising, reinforcing why the top group of donors must be approached early. Together, they illustrate the concepts of top-down and inside-out solicitation (beginning with the largest donors and the most committed insiders) so the quiet phase can build meaningful early progress. They share examples of how organizations can get stuck when they start by asking everyone at once, including a story about an animal shelter that initially relied on broad direct mail outreach before learning how to focus on individual conversations with high-capacity supporters. Listeners also hear how early board commitments strengthen the case for support, how confidence shapes donor response, and how a clear strategy influences staffing, timing, and long-term relationship building. Andrea and Amy outline the anxiety many teams feel when approaching top donors, and how a well-run feasibility study helps leaders prepare for these pivotal conversations. By the end of the episode, you will understand the structure behind a successful quiet phase and how this approach sets the stage for a strong public launch and stronger fundraising overall. To see if your organization is truly ready for a capital campaign, download this free Readiness Assessment. This guide will help you evaluate six aspects of your organization, including the board and your case for support. | |||